


The Fall Of The Mad King

by RoosterTeethBri (BriThePirateQueen)



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, F/M, Gen, Mad King Ryan, Minecraft, king AU, minecraft au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-06
Updated: 2014-06-20
Packaged: 2018-02-11 14:51:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 25,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2072394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BriThePirateQueen/pseuds/RoosterTeethBri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Mad King gets taken down a notch by an adventurer turned queen. Discontinued.  To be rewritten.  Unedited/Unbeta'd.<br/>[http://roosterteethbri.tumblr.com/tagged/The%20Fall%20Of%20The%20Mad%20King%20Fic]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

When you saw the smoke rising far into the sky, you had just come out of a thick forest. For three days prior you had traveled on horseback, as most adventurers and explorers usually do, through the trees. You’d been an adventurer most of your life, after your village had burned to the ground when you were young. You remember little of your time there, including the cause of the battle that destroyed your village, although you were well into your teens by the time you left. Your memories of that place had mostly been replaced with far happier and prosperous memories of your explorations of recent years—those of the first time you struck down a creeper with a sword you forged yourself, or the memory of taming your horse, Noctis.

You had been traveling for some time, rarely turning back, and instead choosing to travel far across the lands, and discover new places each day. Rumors of your travels and kind deeds had spread surprisingly far, and you found that most places you visited on your journey had heard at least whispers of you. You made most of your living hunting, and doing odd jobs at nearly every village you stopped at. Sometimes you helped in the harvest or planting, or more often you cleared an area of monsters, most often spiders or creepers.

Noctis slowed her pace slightly as you finally exited the darkness of the trees into the bright light of the plains, and just over the horizon you could see black smoke curling into the white clouds above. You gave your horse a gentle squeeze with your heels to encourage her to go faster, and she set off down the path toward the source of the smoke. You tried to get a look to see if it would be safe to approach wherever the smoke was coming from, but the path lead through another, smaller, band of trees and there were several bends in the path before it would lead to whatever was producing the smoke.

You squeezed the heels of your iron boots into Noctis’ side a bit harder, encouraging her to move faster, and you eventually got her to a quick gallop. As you rode, your diamond sword clanged against your armor, and you quickly put your hand over the cross-guard to hold it down and stop the noise, though you could not stop the rattling of the arrows in the quiver on your back. Noctis moved quickly down the path, faster than she had moved in the few days you and she had ambled through the forest, and you soon were able to see the source of the black smoke.

You had finally passed through the band of trees to another plain, and the path had straighten out. A few miles down the path, you could see a large village, where each and every house was covered in flames. You pushed Noctis to run harder, and tried to get to the village as quick as possible, although you knew by the time you got there at least most of the houses wouldn’t be salvageable.

You finally arrived at the village to see a group of six men on horse back riding off away from the village, going down the path that ran straight through the middle of the village. You squinted, trying to make out any details, but all you could see was a glint of gold upon the head of the one leading the rest of the men. A crown? He must be someone important. If you had to guess you’d say those men were the one who set the village ablaze. You had Noctis rush forward, intent on catching up with them, but your focus was draw away from the men when you heard a scream from nearby and saw someone come running your way.

"Please help me," the old man begged, "I’m the only one left."

Quickly glancing around the village you could tell he was probably right. Most of the houses had collapsed and there was no sound but the crackling of the fire. You gave the man a curt nod and hauled him onto Noctis to sit behind you. You pulled her reins to the right and pressed your heels hard into her side, sending her galloping quickly back the way you had come, away from the fire.

"Are you alright?" you asked the man behind you. "What happened there?"

The man took a deep breath and began to explain as best he could while being jostled around from the rhythm of Noctis’ galloping. “It was the Mad King,” he told you as you continued away from the wreckage of the burning village. The scent of burning wood was harder to detect now. “He wants to take over the entirety of the continent. He and his Guards came to our village and demanded to speak to our Mayor. He said we could either pay taxes to his army, or he would destroy us.”

He paused for a moment to catch his breath and you decided you were far enough away from the village to be out of the range of embers and the scent of burning buildings. You hopped off Noctis and helped the old man off as well. “Sit down,” you encouraged, “and have some water, then continue.” You dug around in one of the bags that hung from Noctis’ saddle until you found a bottle of water, which you handed to the old man.

He sat down, facing away from the village. He drank quickly and the bottle was soon empty. “You sure you’re OK?” you asked again as you put the bottle back in the saddle bag. The man assured you he was fine.

"I got out of the house quickly.. and it appears I was the only one who got out at all," he said mournfully. He straightened up, "I was not in the smoke for long."

You sat down in front of him, and Noctis wandered a few yards away to nibble at the grass. “Tell me more of this Mad King,” you requested.

"First tell me your name, traveler," he said, "I like to know who I’m talking to. I can hardly call you "The One Who Rescued Me From The Village" each time I speak of you." You told him your name, and he appeared to be lost in thought for a moment. "Oh! Are you the one they call The Warrior of Night?"

You laughed a bit, “I- yeah, I suppose they call me that sometimes. I’d no idea people out here had heard of me.”

"We’ve heard a bit," the old man shrugged, a slight smile tugging at the edges of his mouth. "Mostly of your kindness and your bravery. Ah, and they call me Frederick."

"Frederick, it is a pleasure to meet you. I wish it had been under better circumstances." He nodded, and quietly agreed, still not looking back at the still-burning village. "So, tell me more of the King."

"The King, yes. His reign started no more than two years ago, and yet all who know of him fear him. He has slaughtered countless villages who refused to pay expensive taxes to him, like mine, and he has armed forces all over these lands. Most were forced to serve him for fear of death. As I said, he plans to take over the entirety of the continent."

"That’s be quite a feat," you noted, and Frederick nodded.

"Yes, but it seems he is well on his way to accomplishing his goal."

"You stood up, stretched and looked down at Frederick, "Thank you, for the information."

"Thank you for getting me away from the village," he responded. He tried to stand up as well, and you helped him to his feet.

"Tell me, Frederick, is there anywhere else for you to go? I fear your village is complete loss."

He thought for a moment. “There is another village, some ways down the path,” he said, pointing back toward his own village, but refusing to look behind him, “We sometimes go there to trade, but I am wary to go there, as that is the way the King went when he was finished with my village.”

"I would be happy to take you to this other village," you told him, "and I shall do my best to get you there safely."

"That would be very kind of you," he said, nodding. You led him to Noctis, and helped him climb up into the saddle before climbing up to sit in front of him. You pulled her reins to the right, and had Noctis turn back toward the village, and you all started to make your way back to the still-burning wreckage.

When you made it close to the village, you turned Noctis off the path, and made your way some distance from any of the building. Frederick still refused to look at the village, and you thought you could hear him crying softly. You said nothing of it, but put one of your hands over one of his that he had wrapped around your waist to keep himself steady, trying to comfort him.

Once you had made it past the village, you turned Noctis back onto the path, and had her quicken her pace, hoping to get to the second village Frederick had spoken of as soon as possible.

You made it there sooner than you thought you would, though it was still late when you arrived. You let Noctis wander the village outskirts, confident as always she would be there in the morning. You took Frederick to the inn, and gave the innkeeper an emerald to pay for two rooms, one for Frederick, and one for yourself.

The next morning, you wished Frederick the best, and told him you would be leaving. You gave him enough to pay for a few more night’s stay at the inn, and told him you had talked to the innkeeper about getting him to help Frederick find some sort of job. Frederick said he was sorry to see you go, but he would be eternally grateful for everything you’ve done for him.

"Where will you go?" he asked as you climbed onto Noctis’ back.

"Well, which way to the Mad King’s castle?" you asked.

"You can’t mean you’re going to face him!" Frederick half-shouted, fearing for your safety.

"I thought I’d go see what else I can learn of him," you explained, "what actions of mine come of the information I find I’ve yet to decide."

"Please be safe," he asked. You nodded, and he agreed to give you directions to the King’s castle. He spoke slowly, and you nodded, remembering the route easily enough.

You turned Noctis to face the East, and turned to Frederick one last time before you left. “I wish you the best in life, Frederick, I can only hope you say the same for me.”

"Of course, Warrior of Night," he smiled, "I hope we meet again someday."

"On better terms, I should hope," you agreed, smiling back, and headed off toward the East, and the Mad King’s castle.


	2. Part 2

The ride toward the Mad King’s castle was tougher than you had expected. You’d lost the long-unused trail many times, and the terrain was rough and rather bumpy. You probably should have expected this; it should have been fairly obvious that the trail that leads straight to someone who is apparently the most powerful and murderous person in the land would be widely unused. Nonetheless, you make your way toward your destination at a decent pace. You spend the nights on your somewhat threadbare bedroll, which you kept rolled up and tied to Noctis’ saddle when you weren’t using it.

By the third night after you had left Frederick, you had what you were confident was the Mad King’s castle and the surrounding city well in your sights. However, you decided to stop some ways from the wall of the city, make camp where you were, and approach the city during the day tomorrow.

You untied your bedroll from Noctis’ saddle, and spread it out between a couple of trees, nearby enough to the trail to see it, but not close enough to be seen yourself. You busied yourself scribbling in your journal while you waited for sleep to come. You wrote little, as not much happened that day, but you mentioned being able to see the city in this distance. You flipped through some of the recent pages, and read over your experiences of the last few days. You hoped Frederick was doing well; if you were ever able you should go back that way some day and see what became of him. Sleep came quickly that night; you didn’t dream.

The next morning, you were awoken by the beating of hooves upon the ground. You sat up, and looked for Noctis. You found her quickly, standing even farther from the path than you were, and you realized she was not the source of the sound that woke you up. Turning your gaze toward the path, you saw a group of six men on horseback. You got out of your bedroll as fast as you could, and made sure you were well hidden before watching the men.

The one who rode at the front wore a kilt and a bright gold crown, and if you had to guess, you would say he was the King. Each of the men rode a white horse, and although each horse was well taken care of and healthy, the King’s horse most definitely had the shiniest and whitest hair. They made their way quickly, and you only got a glance at the other five men, but you had seen them well enough you could recognize them on sight now. They came to a fork in the path, and they turned from the way that you had come to go the other way. You were somewhat comforted by the fact that this meant that Frederick and the rest of the village you had been at would be safe, but you knew this meant they probably had another village they would be demanding money from—and failing that, demanding blood.

It occurred to you, as you watched the men ride away at a gallop, that now, while the King wasn’t there, would probably be the best time to enter the city if you wanted to find out as much as you could about him. You gathered up your bedroll and journal, made your way to Noctis, tied the bedroll to the side of her saddle, and tossed your journal in one of the bags on the other side of her saddle. You hopped up into Noctis’ saddle and you and she made your way toward slowly through the trees toward the path.

As you made your way toward the city, you could see a small building just outside the city gates. Once you had gotten closer, you were able to make out a fence around the back and what appeared to be a scrawny horse corralled by the fencing. When you were even closer, you could tell the fence was falling apart and the horse was not anywhere near being in the best of health. Around this time you could also make out two figures on either side of the gate, who you were sure were most likely guards. You hopped off Noctis, and sent her back toward the forest, not wanting to keep her in the run-down stables you saw ahead. You knew she’d be close by when you left the city, she always was.

Once who had gotten close enough to make out the guards’ facial features, the one on your right called out to you, “Hail, traveler.” His voice was gruff and unwelcoming, and his stare was just as stony and harsh as his companion’s on the other side of the gate.

You nodded in reply and asked, “Can you tell me the name of this city?”

"Ya’ mean ya’ don’t know where ya’ are?" he asked, his angry frown turning to a condescending smirk. "Ain’t you in f’r a treat."

"I know this place only as ‘The City Surrounding The Mad King’s Castle.’ Get’s rather tiring, calling it that every time," you snarked at the guard, "I imagine it does have a proper name, yes?”

He squinted down at you, his smirk replaced once again with the hard frown, “Yeah, ‘t’s called Inverness. Why ‘re you ‘ere, anyway? ’F you know who the Mad King is, I can’t ‘magine you’d want in.”

You nodded, “I do, actually.”

"You got a death wish, kid? It ain’t exactly a nice place in ‘ere."

You shrugged, a faint smile pulling at the edge of your lips, “I like a challenge, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

The guard crossed his arms, “We’ll be watchin’ you, kid.” He knocked twice on the right large wooden door of the gate and a few moments later it opened. ”If you’re gonna die, at least do it in the streets, it’s hell ‘ta drag bodies through houses.”

‘Comforting,’ you thought to yourself, as you headed inside the city. You weren’t sure what you expected, but it wasn’t this. There was seldom a house not in extreme disrepair, and most of the people of Inverness hid in the shadows. Those you could see were all dressed in rags, thin and obviously starving. It seemed the Mad King was not only taking money from outside cities, but the one closest to his castle as well.

You decided to make your way to the inn. It’s a good enough place to start, and most innkeepers were always up on the latest gossip, although you could never figure out quite why. You wanted to ask someone for directions, but they all refused to meet your eyes, most hurrying quickly away from you, so you wandered the city, searching yourself. The grand majority of the city looked mostly the same: poor, starving people; broken-down, empty buildings.

You wandered for most of the day, and found few people were willing to talk to you, being a stranger in town. It was quite late by the time you happened across a building that you were somewhat sure was some sort on inn, but the words on the sign above the door were stained and hard to read. You pushed open the door, and as you walked in, every face in the room turned toward you. You suddenly felt very out-of-place, with your shiny iron armor, you diamond sword, and the bow and quiver of arrows hung over your shoulder.

You made your way toward the bar, and chose the stool you thought looked the least likely to far apart. The bartender looked at you warily and approached you slowly.

"Uh, hi," you mumbled, "Can I get uh- a drink?"

He nodded slowly and disappeared through a door behind him, and came back quickly with a cup of water, which he sat in front of you.

"I- thanks," you stammered. "Um, listen, what can you tell me about, uh, the King?"

The innkeeper looked you over and asked quietly, “Why do you wanna know?”

You shrugged, “Curious, I guess. I’m an adventurer, I like to know what’s going on in the places I visit, and this place seems to be the center of most of the action around here.”

"The King rules much of these lands," he agreed. "What do you know already?"

You took a sip of your water, and told the innkeeper what Frederick had told you, “Just that he’s a conqueror, he wants to take over the entirety of the continent, and has been demanding taxes from nearby villages, to spend on his army, I imagine.”

"That’s correct, the money is for his army," the innkeeper told you, cleaning a glass bottle, "There have been rumors his army has been losing many of their battles, and he needs the funds to pay for more equipment and soldiers."

"What’re the nobles around here like?" you asked, taking another small sip of water.

"There aren’t many, most have been killed by the King, or ran away quite some time ago. Now, besides the King, the only nobles are his five personal guards."

You remembered the five men who followed behind the King from earlier, and you nodded. ”So no queen?” you wondered aloud.

"The King has no time for any relationships at the moment, besides that of commander and soldier. He is too preoccupied with conquering to remember any of his other royal duties." He sighed, "This city used to be great, only two years ago. We were rich, and prosperous, and a center of trade and knowledge. Then the Mad King took the throne." He looked sad, and lost in thought, and you nodded.

You quickly downed the rest of your drink and looked back at the innkeeper, “On a different note, do you have rooms here? How much for a night’s stay?”

"What have you got?" he asked, and you untied a bag hung on your waist.

"Will some coal for the fire get me a room?" you asked, holding it out to him. He nodded and took the bag from you.

"Room’s just up those stairs," he pointed to your left. The stairs looked rickety, but they’d still hold for quite some time. "What will you do in the morning?" he inquired, curious about the new stranger.

You shrugged, and sighed, “Well. I thought I might go check out the castle tomorrow.”

"Che- Bu- That’s incredibly dangerous!" he warned. "You can’t just waltz into the Mad King’s castle whenever you feel like it."

"Eh," you shrugged again, and headed off toward your room, "I can take anything that comes my way."

You found it hard to sleep that night. While just lying in bed you had far more time to think about your plans than you had while you were wandering the city earlier. You spent quite some time decided upon your course of action. On one hand, you felt some sort of duty to dethrone the King. You were a successful and apparently well known adventurer, who made a living by helping people.

Granted, on the other hand, you’d never done anything quite so dangerous as to try to take out a horribly violent and powerful ruler. And, it occurred to you, once he was dead, who would take the throne? You remembered the innkeeper downstairs had told you the king had no queen, so it was likely he had no heir, either. There would almost definitely be some sort of power struggle, and the new ruler may be worse than the current Mad King. You thought long on that last thought, and decided it would be rather difficult to find a ruler worse than this one, who kills and steals from his own people.

You laid in your bed on the second floor of that run down inn for hours before you fell asleep. Your last thought before you fell asleep was this: the people deserve a savior, and you would do your best to be that person.


	3. Part 3

You awoke to the sound of a knock on the door of your room at the inn. You heard the innkeeper call from outside, “We’re cooking breakfast if you wanna buy some food.”

You sat up and stretched, and rubbed your neck. Even after travelling for so long and spending most of your nights on the ground outdoors, you still considered last night to be a rather unpleasant rest. Sliding out from under the light cover, you stood up and yawned. You rubbed the sleep from your eyes and made the bed up to the best of your abilities before getting dressed. You donned your iron armour, and swung your satchel across your body so the bag rested on the hip under your dominant hand, and belted your sword to your other hip. You slung your bow and quiver over your shoulder as well, so the bow string was perpendicular to the strap on the satchel.

You opened your bag of belongings, and were glad to find nothing missing as you dug through the miscellaneous collection of items. Deciding against eating breakfast downstairs, you opted for a quick breakfast eaten by yourself in your room. You scarfed down a loaf of bread and your last bit of salted fish, and followed it with a bottle of water. You tossed the empty bottle back in your bag, and made one last check to make sure you had all your belongings before finally making your way downstairs.

The innkeeper glanced up at you as you came downstairs but his gaze quickly went back to his work in front of him as he did his best to get the inn’s old dishes clean. When you came closer, he asked without looking up if you wanted to buy breakfast, but you politely declined.

You took a moment to work up your courage before asking him for advice. “If one were to, uh,” you shrugged, “say, want to get inside the King’s castle, how would, uh, you recommend doing so?”

The innkeeper’s movements froze, and his expression never changed from neutral boredom. He looked up you after a moment, and held eye contact with you for some time before answering. He sighed, “As I’ve said, if someone were to ask me for my advice on that matter, I’d tell them they would have to be insane to go anywhere near the place.”

You sighed, leaned in closer over the bar, and lowered your voice, “I’m inclined to agree, but I’m not known for doing things the easy or safe way, I’m known for helping people.”

“Known?” the innkeeper asked, “Who are you that you think you’re known for anything?”

You scratched the back of your head, slightly embarrassed, “Have you ever heard of the Warrior of Night?”

The innkeeper looked you up and down, and squinted, “Once or twice,” he replied, suddenly appearing quite defensive. He looked you up and down again, “Are- are you…” His voice quieted to barely a whisper. He looked almost hopeful when he asked, “Are you… the Warrior of Night?”

You simply nodded.

“This kingdom needs a hero… a savior,” he told you, “We would do well for any sort of freedom from the Mad King. Do you really think you can help us?”

“…I think I should like to try.”

He nodded and appeared lost in thought for quite some time. “There is one way, I suppose, one could make there way into the castle without being seen.” You nodded, and he sighed, forlorn, “Behind the castle is the building where the King’s help live—the gardeners, the maids, the cooks. They all have unfettered access to the castle in order to be able to go quickly and easily about their work. If someone were to somehow… acquire… a set of their keys, that person would have easy access to the entirety of the castle.”

You gave him a small, friendly smile, “Thank you, really.”

He nodded, a sad smile on his face, “…You you really think you can free us of this tyrant?”

You nodded back and quietly promised, “I’ll do my best.”

You held out your hand, and the innkeeper mirrored your movements, visibly confused. You slipped an emerald into his palm, and quickly made your way out the door, not even staying long enough to hear his thanks.

As you made your way toward the castle, you received just as many strange looks and whispers about your presence as yesterday, but this time the looks lasted longer and the whispers were not so quiet. You did your best to ignore the looks and whispers as you made your way to the castle at the center of the town, walking quickly.

When you made it to the front gate to the walls surrounding the castle, you realized you hadn’t been in this part of the city before. You also realized just waltzing through the main gate wouldn’t be an option, although you had guessed this to be so. There were three guards on each side of the large, golden gate, and each looked meaner and stronger than the two you had met at the gate to the city combined. You decided instead to make your way around the wall and see if there was a weak or unguarded spot you could try to climb over.

You had made it nearly than a third of the way around the walls, and each brick that made up the wall looked just as flat and grey as the ones next to it. There was no way you’d be able to climb these walls. Walking a bit farther along the wall to the King’s castle you happened across a building that looked much different than the ones surrounding it. It was not nearly so run-down, and far many more people walked in and out of its door. Once you saw what they were wearing—maid and butler outfits, gardener’s trousers, chef’s aprons—you realized the building the innkeeper spoke of where the King’s servants lived was not actually inside the castle walls, as you had previously thought, but just outside of it. Perhaps it was a good thing you hadn’t scaled the walls after all, or you would have never found it. You also noticed that hung on the belt or in the pocket of every one of the King’s servants was a ring on which hung a collection of shiny, gold keys.

And that’s when you felt the slightest tug on your satchel. You whipped around, and you your hand went quickly to your bag where you felt someone else’s hand under your own. You were now face to face with a small girl who you had just caught in the act of trying to pickpocket you. You held tightly to her hand and squinted down at her, “What exactly do you think you’re doing, kid?”

Her expression was one of panic and fear as she shakily replied, “S-sorry miss! I just- you- you looked like ‘ya might have somthin’ a’ value and I haven’t eaten in a day ‘r two. I’m sorry, really I am!”

“Sorry you got caught?” you asked, and she looked down at the ground, close to tears. You sighed, and a plan occurred to you. “Hey, kid, look up here. Now listen, I’ve got a deal for you, yeah?” you kneeled down to get to her eye level. She nodded slightly and you went on, “You go get me a set of keys from one of them,” you pointed back at the servant’s quarters, “and I’ll give you a loaf of bread or two. Just be sure to be a better pickpocket than you were this time around.”

The girl looked quickly between the people coming in and out of the nearby building and your face. Pickpocketing a servant of the King could be incredibly dangerous, but the promise of food was too good to ignore. She nodded, and ran off toward a group of people who appeared to be gardeners coming back to their quarters. She followed them behind the building and reappeared again a moment later, her hand in her pocket. She ran over to you, and slipped the ring of keys into your bag, careful not to let any wandering eyes see what it was, and then she looked up at you hopefully. You nodded, and opened your satchel to pull out two small loaves of bread. You handed them to her, and she ran off cradling the food in her arms.

You started off to continue your way around the castle walls, but you heard the girl call to you from down the street, “Hey! What’s your name?”

You looked back at her and smiled, “Just call me the Warrior of Night.” _‘That’s what everyone else here knows me by’_ , you thought.

The girl nodded, and ran off again, and you continued on your way to find a way into the castle.


	4. Part 4

Once you reached the space on the castle wall opposite where the golden front gate would be, you found a smaller, simple, wooden door. It was only guarded by one guard, and it was apparently the doorway the King’s servants used.

You waited until the area was clear of any more workers; it appeared they were all now either at work or back in the servant’s quarters, and as such no more people had come through the doorway for some time. The guard by the door was easy enough to distract; a well placed toss of a rock you have found on the ground overturned a collection of pots outside a nearby building, and he left to investigate. You slipped over to the door as quickly and quietly as you could, only to find the door locked. You pulled the keys the girl had gotten you out of your bag, and tried several keys before you found the right one. You turned the key in the lock and you slipped quietly through the door.

As cliché as it sounded, walking through that door was like walking into a different world compared to outside in the city. You had apparently made your way into the garden, and the entire place was covered in long, winding paths, surrounded by large, lush bushes and flowers of every sort. The castle gleamed in the light, and standing there it was almost hard to believe someone as bloodthirsty as the Mad King lived in such a beautiful place such as that garden.

You spent several minutes admiring the flowers: poppies, orchids, tulips and daisies, all in several colors. You would have liked to spend more time admiring the scenery, but you heard the guard from outside the door returning to his post, and so you hurried along the stone path toward the castle.

You made your way as quietly as you could to the nearest door, and spent a few moments finding the right key before you entered slowly. You found yourself in a kitchen and, oddly enough, no one was around. You glanced quickly around the room, but finding nothing or interest, you made your way through the door father into the castle.

You wandered around the castle and found the few hallways you wandered to be quite empty. You weren’t entirely sure what you were looking for—perhaps some idea of the easiest way to off the King? Or, perhaps there would be some information about powerful enemies of the King you could call on for aid. 

The entire place was rather uninteresting, and besides the occasional painting or vase of flowers the hallways were empty. You looked into each room as you made your way through the hallways, but few held your interest very long. In fact, as you made your way through the castle, your wanderings were largely uninterrupted besides having to duck behind curtains a couple of times to avoid the occasional butler. You found this rather odd, and you mind ran through a list of possible explanations, but you were unsure at to the real reason the place was so empty.

You happened across a library, and when you peeked around the corner to see if it was empty, you saw a circle of maids whispering in a corner. You hid just outside the room and tried to listen in to what they were saying.

“When will the King be back?” you heard one say.

“Later today,” another replied. With this bit of information you decided you should make your way through and out of the castle quickly, as you didn’t want to be anywhere near the place with the King and his Guards around.

“He wasn’t gone for very long.”

“He only went to the next village over. I heard it came time for them to pay their taxes again.”

“They are one of the villages who supply wheat, yes?”

“Mmm.”

The conversation turned to other things, and you made your way past the library to the rest of the castle. Few other rooms held your interest, as most were empty, much like the hallways.

There was only one room you spent any decent amount of time in. It was in the center of its hallway, and its doors were much larger and ornate than the rest. You gently pushed one door open, and leaned to see inside. You were surprised when you realized where you must be. The center of the room was taken up mostly by a large bed with blood red sheets with golden accents and pillows. A number of drawers and vanities lined the walls, and a large painting of the man who was apparently the king hung on the center of the far wall.

You decided this must be the King’s bedroom, or at least one of them, as you weren’t sure how many rooms the castle held. You rummaged through the drawers, and even looked under the bed, but the entire room seemed quite bare. However, in the vanity right across from the bed you did find something.

Opening the drawer, you found it contained a single book and a quill with a bottle of ink. You carefully picked up the book, and flipped through the pages quickly. With the glance you got a each page, you noticed each page was dated and handwritten. It appeared you had just found the King’s journal. ‘This could be useful,’ you thought to yourself.

You stuffed the journal in your bag, deciding to read it later, and turned to the door, but what you saw there made you stop in your tracks.

Before you, standing in the doorway, you saw man. A man dressed in blood red robes with a golden crown upon his head. He smirked, “Hello. Who might you be?”


	5. Part 5

"Uhhhh…" You panicked. Your hand flew to the cross-guard of your sword but were in to much shock to actually draw it. You voice got higher on each word as you ventured, "I’m… your new… housekeeper?"

He didn’t appear convinced.

"No?" you asked, "Right, new plan." So, you spun around on your heel, ran across the room and leaped out the open window.

Luckily, there was a balcony just below, and you landed with minor injures, though you were sure your shoulder would bruise. You were glad you were correct on your guess about the placement of the King’s room and the room connected to the balcony you had landed on, otherwise that jump could have ended far worse.

You scrambled to your feet, and looked up to catch a glance of the King looking down at you from the window above. He appeared confused, and possibly somewhat impressed. You shrugged up at him, and took off running through the room connected to the balcony, throwing a “Sorry!” over your shoulder as you knocked over a couple of butlers who had stopped to watch you land on the balcony. You raced down the hall, desperately trying to remember the way out, not bothering to hide from the servants who marched up and down the halls.

Are several minutes of running wildly around the castle halls you managed to find the main entrance room, which appeared to also serve as the throne room. It was a large room with two giant doors at the front, and red carpet leading up to a set of a dozen or so stairs, at the top of which sat a large, golden throne. Behind the throne were two winding staircases leading to the higher floors.

Standing in a circle at the bottom of the stairs that led to the throne were the five men you had seen with the King—his personal guards. One of them wore clothing clearly designed to resemble a Creeper and held a bow; one had a bear skin hung over his shoulders and carried a broadsword; another wore something akin to a suit and had a rapier hung on his belt; the fourth wore some strange dark green foreign armor and held a sword much like yours; and the last wore a green and red outfit and carried a battle axe.

You ran through the throne room and they all turned their heads to watch you run past, each clearly confused. The King had apparently caught up with you at some point during your mad dash because you heard him yell from behind you, “She’s an intruder, get her!” which prompted his guards to take off running after you as well, after a being caught off guard for a moment.

Luckily the doors to the main pathway leading to the castle’s entrance were open so you could make your way outside without having to wait for the giant wooden doors to open. The main path was even more beautiful than the garden you had come in though, but unfortunately you didn’t have time to admire the scenery as you were somewhat busy running for your life.

Running straight down the main path, you found the giant doors of the wall surrounding the castle were shut, and there was no fast way to open them. Instead, once you reached the gate, you turned to follow a narrower path way that ran just around the inside of the wall. This took you, eventually, to the garden you had entered through.

You didn’t bother to look behind you, you could tell the King’s guard were following you by the sound of their feet hitting the ground as they chased you. Eventually you reached the door you had come through, the one the servants used, and skidded to a halt. You tried to break the lock with your foot, but only succeeded in making yourself stumble. The guard outside the door opened it to see what the commotion was, and you pushed him over in your rush to get outside the castle walls.

You ran between run-down buildings, skidding around corners and doing your best to lose the group of men following you. They split up, and you would catch a glance of one out of the corner of your eye occasionally as you ran up and down the streets. At one point you had turned a corner only to be faced with the one wearing the foreign armor, who shouted to his comrades he had found you, but you turned and sprinted away before he could get a hold of you.

You were getting tired, and eventually you knew you eventually wouldn’t be able to outrun the King’s Guards anymore. You spied a run-down apparently empty building, and took a chance jumping through what used to be a window, but was now just a square hole in the wall of the building. You sat under the glassless window and tried to catch your breath as you listened to the sounds of the King’s men running up and down the street past the window.

Then you heard a voice form the other side of the one-room building, “Hey.”

You looked over to see a figure sitting opposite you. It was the girl from earlier—the one who had gotten you the set of keys to break into the castle. She sat with her knees tucked up, and she was gnawing on a small loaf of bread—one of the ones you gave her, you guessed. ”Hey,” you replied.

"I take it the break in ‘idn’t go so well?" she asked, gesturing to the window as another of the King’s men raced past.

You shrugged, “Uh, you know, it was uh, it didn’t go as planned, per say.”

"Mmm." She took another bite of bread.

"You uh," you glanced out the window, "You mind if I stay here for a while?" you asked.

She gave a half-shrug, “‘T’s not my house. Do what ‘cha like, I ‘spose.”

You nodded slowly, “Alright.” You and she were silent for some time, even after the sounds of the King’s men were long gone, apparently having given up or moved their search elsewhere.

You sat up slightly, and turned to look out what was left of the window. You saw no immediate signs of danger, but decided you should probably get out of the city for a couple of days. You looked back at the girl and softly cleared your throat. ”Um, I should- I should go,” you told her, pointing out the window.

She looked up at you, “C’n I come?”

"I- what? No, why would you even want to?"

"Oh, come on!" she insisted, getting to her feet, "I’ve always wanted to go on an adventure, and from what I can tell you’re doing a good thing ‘ere, helpin’ the people get rid of the Mad King."

"How do you know I didn’t just go to the castle to rob it?"

“‘Cause you wouldn’t ‘a needed me ‘ta get you the keys if you were any sort ‘a decent burglar,” she told you.

You sighed, “Yeah, but- ugh, it doesn’t matter, you’re not coming with, it’s too dangerous.”

"Oh, please? Every hero needs an adorable sidekick!"

You rolled your eyes, “Says who?”

"Says pretty much _every story ever_ ,” she crossed her arms, “You _need_ my help! You wouldn’t ‘a been able to e’en get in the castle in the first place ‘ithout me!”

"No," you told her as you climbed out the window, "now stay out of trouble."

"Hmpf, same to you," you heard her mumble angrily as you walked off. You sighed, and made your way as quietly as you could down the street.

You heard the girl shout something behind you and you started to turn to look at her when you felt something large, hard and heavy hit the back of your head. You were unconscious before you even hit the ground.


	6. Part 6

You were shockingly cold when you awoke; the stone floor had stolen the heat from your body while you slept.  You tried to sit up but found it difficult with such stiff muscles.  You rubbed the back of your head and blinked several times, trying to clear your blurry vision.  You noticed you weren't wearing your armor, but instead just the simple cloth shirt and pants you wore under it, and your sword, bow, arrows, and satchel were missing as well.

Your vision had cleared somewhat, and you looked around slowly, taking in your surroundings.  You were in a cell, and just outside the bars you saw, sitting sleep on a wooden stool, one of the King’s guards.  He was the one who wore the green foreign armor, and now that you got a decent look at him you noticed he had quite the mustache.  


"Oi," you called out to him, but he didn't stir from sleep.  "Oi!" you said louder, and he slowly open an eye.  When he saw you sitting cross-legged in the cell in front of him he yawned and sat up straight.

"Oh, you're finally awake," he mumbled.

"Where am I?"  It was more of a demand than a question.

"Dungeon," he answered simply.  "Under the King's castle."

"Right," you sighed.  "No chance of you letting me out of here?"

He shook his head and you sighed.

"I'm Geoff, by the way," he told you.

"Mmm.  Forgive me if I don't give my kidnappers the privilege of knowing my name," you said coldly.

He shrugged, "Fair enough."  He stood up and stretched, and started to walk away, down the hall.

"Wait, where are you going?" you asked leaning forward.

"Ryan wanted 'ta see 'ya as soon as you woke up," he explained.  He stopped suddenly, turned around, and came back to stand only a foot away for the bars of your cell.  He looked at you, and he appeared somewhat confused, or perhaps curious.  "You know," he said slowly, "it's rather odd that Ryan kept you here."

"Is it?"  You stood up, and walked forward, the two of you now only feet apart, separated by iron bars.

He nodded, and squinted at you.  "It's just... usually, he'd cut someone's head off on the spot just for looking at him wrong... but you managed to sneak into his very own room, and he's only got you in the dungeon?"

You frowned--if that was the case, he probably had something much worse than a beheading in plan for you.  


Geoff shrugged the thought away and walked off again, "Well, see 'ya.  Or maybe not.  Probably not."

"Comforting," you called out, but he only shrugged again.

You sighed and looked around the cell.  There were no windows for you to try to escape out of; and there were horizontal _and_ vertical bars blocking the wall that led to the hallway, and they were so close together there was no chance of you fitting through.  The cell was completely bare, and plain, smooth stone made up each wall, pardoning the wall made of iron bars.

It was several minutes before you heard footsteps coming down the hall again.  You stood, stretched, and crossed your arms.  You stood in the middle of the cell, ready to glare down or shout at whoever came by.  Being cramped up in such an unpleasant place as this had not left you in a good mood.

The man who came into view from the same way Geoff had left had been just who you guessed it would be--the King.  You glared at him.  He smirked.

"Housekeeper, really?" he mused.

You shrugged.

"You're not a very good liar, are you?"

You sighed.  "I don't do a lot of lying in my line of work.  It's more...," you waved a hand around, "hitting things with swords until they stop moving."  You crossed your arms again.

He smirked and readjusted his stance slightly.  "Question," he said.

You raised an eyebrow.

"Why did you break into my castle?"

It was your turn to smirk this time, "Why was it so easy to do so?"

He scowled.  "It really shouldn't have been," he mumbled.

You chuckled, "Why do _you_ think I broke in?"

"I don't know," he squinted, "No one else would dare.  They're all terrified of my men and I."

"With good reason, I see," you stood up straighter, after you noticed you had started to slouch, "Knocking your enemy unconscious isn't exactly sporting."

He almost smiled.  "Neither is breaking and entering."

You shrugged, "Fair enough."

You were both quiet for several moments before he spoke again, "I have a proposition for you."

You sighed; it wasn't as though you had any option but to listen, trapped in that cell.

"I can't image it's very comfortable in there..."

"Mmm," you agreed, your expression one of great annoyance.

"I let you out... on a few conditions," he smiled.  Not a particularly pleasant smile, but more the smile of one who has managed to win a game of cards without anyone finding out they were cheating.

He started to pace back and forth in front of your cell as he continued, "I imagine if you've given yourself over to the idea of killing me enough to break into my castle--that was why you did it, yes?--then you must know quite a bit about me," he waved a hand, "and perhaps also some of my... less admirable deeds."

You squinted, but said nothing.

"As such, you may know that I am currently without an heir.  Now, of course, I could just pick one of my guards to take my place after my reign ends, but I simply would prefer to have my own blood on the throne."  He paused.  "Not literally, of course."

"Of course," you mumbled.

 Seeing the King right there in front of you and being totally powerless--no weapons, no armor--to do anything about getting rid of him was infuriating.  You watched him walk back and forth.  He was attractive, you'd give him that, but he was also murderous and supposedly insane.  Sometimes the cons just outweighed the pros.

"So," he smiled, finally stopping his pacing back-and-forth, "I'll let you out, so long as you agree to bear me a child."

You actually laughed.  He didn't appear to be happy with this reaction; he appeared more... infuriated.  "No way in the Three Realms would I  _ever_ bear  _you_ anything!"

"Now listen here!" he grabbed the front of your shirt and pulled you and him together.  You could feel the iron bars pressing into your torso as he whispered harshly in your ear, "I am your  _King_.  And you will do as I say."

You glared at him, and dug your fingernails into his wrist, "You are  _not_ my King.  You are only my enemy.  And on the memory of everyone you've killed, or had killed, or tortured, or abused, I  _will_ destroy you."

You spat in his face, and he finally let go of the front of your shirt, but only to shove you away from him and you stumbled backwards into the cell.  "Best of luck killing me while you're stuck down here, defenseless and  _at my whim_ ," he growled as he wiped his face, and stormed off the way he had come.

You sighed, and sat down on the cold ground.  You knew you wouldn't be able to bear even considering helping the King, but on the other hand you really needed a way out of this cell.  You leaned back, and sighed again.  You didn't have a lot of options at this point.


	7. Part 7

It was more than an hour before you heard another sound.  You hadn't moved since you had laid down before, and you had nearly drifted off before you heard the jingling of keys.  You sat up.

Whoever was coming closer to your cell, their footsteps were so soft you couldn't hear them and only knew they were there by the jingling of the keys.  You got your your feet, and waited to see who would appear in front of your cell next.  So long as it wasn't the King, you figured you would be fine.

The figure that came into view was certainly not that of the King.  It was a girl.  A young girl.  The same girl who had stolen the keys for you and who you had met in that abandoned house earlier.  And she was holding the key to your cell.

You squinted at her.  She waved.  "I told you 'ya need a sidekick.  Didn't I?" she crossed her arms with a smug expression.

You sighed, "How did you even get in here, Kid?"

"Why should I tell you?" she sniffed, "I'm not even your sidekick."  You rolled your eyes.  "'N my name's not 'Kid', it's Lily."

"Listen, Kid, Lily, whatever, just get me out of here and we can talk about this later," you put your hands on the iron bars of the cell and crouched down so you were at her eye-level.

"Nuh-uh," she shook her head, "Not until you say I can be your sidekick."

"Kid we-"

"Lily," she corrected you.

" _Lily_ ," you growled, "we don't have time for this, somebody could come down here any second and then you'd be stuck down here too."

"Nuh-uh," she said again, "I can get out just as easily as I got in."

You sighed.  "You really aren't gonna let me out of here until I say you can tag along?"  She nodded.  "Why do you even want to?"

"I ain’t got much else to do.  No one survives here very long.  If I gotta go out I may as well go out tryin' 'a do somethin' good."

"That's... sorta morbid for a kid to say."

She shrugged, "Well it's true, innit it?  King killed my mum and dad, prob'ly the rest 'a my family too."

You looked down, sighed softly, and look back up.  You told her quietly, "Yeah, alright, Kid, you can tag along.  But if you get yourself hurt don't get all cross with me."

"Lily, not Kid," she smiled, "But thank you."

She deftly unlocked the door to your cell, and you slipped out, not sorry in the least to leave that place behind.

You and she tiptoed down the hall away from the direction the King and his guard had come and gone from.  You found the hallway was rather short this way, and in fact ended in a dead end.  There was a window big enough for you to fit through, and although it was surprisingly unbarred, it was so high up there was no good way to reach it.

"Here," Lily piped up, "lift me up and I'll climb out."

"I thought you'd be able to get out on your own," you smirked.

She squinted up at you, "If I was on my _own_ , I wouldn't have gone this way."

"'This way' is two feet to the left of where we were."

"That's an exaggeration and irrelevant."

"Big words for such a little kid."

"I'm _not_ a kid."

You rolled your eyes, "Let's just go the other way, even if I lift _you_ up there, _I_ won't be able to get up there."

She sighed.  "Fine, but if we get caught, it's your fault," she pointed at you and walked off the other way.

You followed close behind her.  You passed several other cells, all of which were empty, and only two left turns later you were at the stairs leading to the rest of the castle.

"Wow," you looked behind you, "Is that all there is to this place?  This dungeon is pathetic."

Lily giggled, and started up the stairs, waving back at you to signal to follow her.

You both made your way up the stairs quickly, doing your best not to make a sound.  The stairs were a tight spiral, and each step was nearly a foot higher than the one before it.  You stumbled once or twice, but Lily seemed to have no problem even though she had much shorter legs.

You soon reached the top of the stairway, which led into a large hallway, but hid behind the corner when you heard voices from down the hall.  Soon two of the King's guards walked by--the one wearing the creeper-like outfit and the one wearing the bearskin--although they were arguing so loud they didn't notice you or Lily.

Lily took you by the hand and led you silently down the hall the way the guards had come from.  She managed to traverse the castle much better than you could have, and she appeared to know her way around quite well.  Soon she led you to what looked like a simple storage closet located close to the kitchens where you had first entered the castle.

"Your stuff's in a chest in here," Lily told you as she opened the door.

You were surprised she knew where your things were but you didn't mention that fact nor the fact she walked around the castle like she knew every inch of the place.  She let you in the closet in front of her and kept watch while you tried to put on your armor.

As you belted various straps on your cuirass, a thought occurred to you.  "Hey, Lily?" you mumbled.

"Mm?" she replied, mostly focused on keeping watch for any passing people.

"So... do you have like, a plan for when we get out of here?  For getting rid of the King?"

"Uhh...," she looked back at you, "No, I kinda figured you were the one comin' up with the plan."

"Right," you nodded.  "I mean, way I see it we have a couple of options, but I was sort of hoping you had come up with another," you finished belting your armor and began gathering up your weapons and possessions.

"Why, what are you thinkin' we can do?" she glanced both ways down the hall and, seeing no treat, turned back to you.

You sighed.  "Well, first off, and the most obvious I suppose, we could get out of the castle, find ourselves some rebels, storm the castle, kill the King, and be done with it."

"Where are we gonna find rebels willin' ta' kill the King?"

"Yeah," you scratched the back of your neck, "that's sorta the problem."

"What's our other option?"

"Inside job?"

"What?" Lily tilted her head to the side.

"Well, the easiest way to get close to the King would be to get him to trust us, right?"

Lily squinted at you, she was clearly hesitant of where you were going with this.  "What do you mean?"

"He wants an heir, right?  I can become queen, and then it'll be easy for me to off him.  Plus, then I'd be next in line for the throne."

"OK, OK, but," Lily exhaled deeply, "what's to stop him from just killing you on the spot?  I mean, are you gonna go back to the dungeon and just wait for him?  Tell him you miraculously changed your mind about bearing him a son?"

"You heard that conversation?"

"He'll never believe you.  Plus you would still have to deal with his Guards.  What's to stop _them_ from killing you?"

"Listen," you sighed, "this is the best plan I can think of.  I'll stay here, and try to get into the King's good graces; you go out and see what you can do about putting together some rebels to back us up."

Lily leaned against the door frame and looked down the hall each way.  She sighed, "Well... I suppose there are lots of people who know about you already..."

"There are?"

"I'd spread the word about you while you were in the dungeon.  "The Warrior of Night, come to save us from the Mad King," I told them.  There would be plenty of people willing to support you as Queen, I just don't know if they'd openly betray the King."

"They don't have to.  Not until I've gained some power.  Then he and I will be equals."

Lily sighed, but didn't dispute that fact.

"So, we agreed?  This is the best plan for now?"

Lily turned back to you, "For now.  I'll get out of here, see what I can do about those rebels you want.  You try not to get yourself killed."

You gave her a two-finger salute and a smile, "I'll do my best with that."

She pointed down the hall, "King's bedroom’s that way, up the stairs.  Then in the middle of the hallway."

"Yeah, I've been there before," you told her.

Lily raised an eyebrow at this, but decided to save the story for another day.  "He's bound to show up there eventually when you wanna find him.  Good luck," she told you, and took off the other way, toward what you guessed was the way to the exit.

You finished gathering up your things, and made your way quickly up toward the King's bedroom.


	8. Part 8

You climbed the steps Lily had pointed you toward two at a time, doing your best not to let your armor and weapons make too much noise banging against each other.  You reached the ext floor quickly and raced down the hall to the King's bedroom, quickly but quietly closing the door behind you so as to keep hidden from and passerby’s.  The room was thankfully empty of people, but the desks that were empty the last time you were there were now all covered in papers.  You sat your satchel, bow, and arrows at the foot of the King's bed, but you kept your sword buckled to your hip just in case.

You decided the most obvious course of action would be to go through the papers littering the desks that lined three of the bedroom walls.  One desk was covered in some sort of inventory reports, which you took to be the lists of supplies the King had taken from his people as taxes, and some other lists which appeared to be lists of supplies that he was sending to his army.  Another desk was littered with what appeared to be battle strategies and reports of what was happening with the King's army.  Skimming the papers you found that the majority of his army was out far to the west, conquering new lands.

A thought occurred to you, and you went to check the desk where you had originally found the King's journal, only to find the desk was no longer there, but replaced with another desk that was slightly bigger and had bright brass keyholes on each drawer.  You thought briefly about picking the locks, but then remembered you left your locking picking kit along with the other supplies you weren't carrying strapped to Noctis' saddle.  You cured yourself for forgetting something so important outside the city limits, but you quickly moved on, hoping to find something else of interest around the room.

After roaming the room and searching through the papers on the desks once more, you decided it was a hopeless endeavour to find anything of interest.  You sighed, and wandered over to the window.  You could see the garden through which you had first entered then castle walls and you were once again overcome by the garden's beauty.  You looked down and saw the balcony of the room below where you had landed when you jumped from the window trying to escape the King and his men the first time you were in the castle.  Not that your plan had worked in the long run, but to be fair it probably kept the King from killing you on the spot.

You started to feel a dull pain in the shoulder you had landed on the day before and so you turned from the window to scan the room.  It was surprisingly small for a King's bedroom, but the bed and curtains were red velvet with gold trimmings, and there was a giant oil painting of the King just above the bed, so there was no doubt this was the room of someone of noble blood.  You scanned the painting again.  You had noticed it last time you were in the King's room, but you hadn't taken the time to really look at it.   In it, the King wore a lopsided crown, with a large crack through it, as thought its previous owner had been cleaved in half.  The painted King had a sicking smile upon his face, and his clothes were so red they looked as though they were painted in fresh blood.

You sighed.  You had hoped to find something to give you a better idea than the one you and Lily had agreed upon earlier, but you had found no new information that would help you.  You grabbed a chair from in front of one of the desks--the largest and most comfortable of the chairs, from the desk directly across from the bed where you had found the journal--and sat it near the centre of the room, facing toward the door.  You sat down on the chair and slung one leg over the arm of the chair.  It would be as good a place as any to wait for the King.

A bemused smile crept across your face as you imagined the King's face upon seeing you there.  Your smile turned to a frown as you thought of the punishments he would hand out to those he thought responsible for your multiple break-ins and escape from the dungeon.  You had already sen how little the King cared for his people; you had no doubt he wouldn't hesitate to hand out the death penalty.  The thought of how the King treated his people sent of surge of anger though you, and you remembered why you did all this--the break-ins and the constant danger--it was for those who could not defend themselves from the King.

Unfortunately, killing him the second he walked in the door wouldn't be an option.  Every time you arrived at that plan you had to remind yourself you needed to make sure there would be someone to take his place after he died.  You would be preferable, of course.  There would be no ruler you could agree with on more issues than yourself.

But in any case, someone had to be there because you were sure you and the city would most definitely not be able to handle the power struggle if each of the King's guard decided they had the most claim to the throne.  The battle most likely be catastrophic and leave the city in worse shambles than it was now.

You knew little of the King's Guards.  The one you had spoken to the most--or rather the only one you had spoken to at all--was Geoff, and you hadn't spoken hardly at all.  It was probably wishful thinking, but perhaps you could get the King's Guard to turn against him, and help you repair the things the King had done to the Kingdom.  You sighed; it wasn't likely.  If they were going to turn against the King, they would have done so long ago.

Your thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening.  There in the doorway stood the King.  He glared.  You smirked.


	9. Part 9

The King took a few heavy steps into the room, and slammed the door behind him.  "How did you get out of the dungeon?" he growled.  It took more self control than you liked to keep from flinching at his furious tone.  He sounded nearly as angry as he did when you told him you had no intent to bear him an heir back when you were in that cell.

"Strangely enough," you nodded thoughtfully, "the same way I got into the castle in the first place."

Instead of commenting on this bit of information, as you expected him to, he drew his sword and rushed toward you.  You scrambled out of the chair as quickly as you could, and rushed to the side as he half-fell past you, his sword leaving a wide slash through the fabric of the chair.  A pity, really; that fabric was so soft.

You drew your own sword as he turned toward you with a look of fiery fury in his eyes.  "Whoa, whoa, whoa,  _wait_!" you shouted; but your cries fell on deaf ears as he swung his sword toward you and you ducked, his blade slicing through the air where your neck was only moments before.

You shot back up and dodged to the side, stumbling and nearly falling over.  He rushed toward you again, this time swinging his blade downward, apparently aiming to cleave you in half, and you just barely managed to dodge to the side again.  Thankfully, he wasn't very fast, and apparently he was so blinded by anger he wasn't thinking straight.

You hadn't properly fought a human being before; you spent most of your time fighting creatures and  _protecting_ the humans.  You weren't entirely sure if you'd be able to bring yourself to harm him.  Of course, you knew somewhere in your mind that he probably deserved it, and his death could lead to the safety of thousands, but he was still a human, not a monster.  Not in the literally case, anyways.  Well, perhaps that's up for debate, but nonetheless.

You held the tip of your sword toward the King in defense.  You decided you had three options at this point: (1) Run.  But that would have been stupid; you’d just spent quite a bit of time and energy to get here.  (2) Fight.  You still weren’t entirely sure you could bring yourself to hurt him.  Perhaps you would some other time, after seeing his cruelness or murderousness in person at some point, but for right now, him swinging a sword at you just wasn’t enough to bring out the cold blooded killer in you.  (3) Talk.  This was probably your best option.  If you could convince him not to continue to try beheading you for a moment, you might have a chance to even get into his good graces.  Not likely, to be fair, but worth a try nonetheless.

“Stop trying to behead me!” you shouted at him, sword still raised in defense.

“Stop breaking into my bedchamber!” he growled back.

“I- yeah, that’s fair,” you nodded and shrugged.  He lunged toward you again, and you once again managed to just barely avoid his sharp blade.   He was now between you and the door; if you were going to try to talk him out of killing you, you should probably do it now.

“Will you just hold up a minute?” you shout.  Your volume must surprise him, because he says nothing and doesn’t move either, his face still frozen in that fiery glare.  “I have a proposition for you,” you venture.  None of the fire leaves his eyes, but... could you perhaps see a spark of curiosity now there as well?  You give yourself half a moment to calm your breathing, “I’ll be your queen, but I still refuse to bear you an heir.”

He adjusted his stance to a more defensive one, “If you won’t bear me an heir, then why in the name of the Three Realms would I want you as queen?”

“You do want _a_ queen, yeah?” you waved the hand that wasn’t holding your sword around as you talked, “Who else do you think will be willing to be your queen?  I have to image most women around here would rather die than marry you.”

He smirked, but there was still a fire in his eyes, and it made you a bit uneasy. “Perhaps,” he squinted, “but I still have nothing to gain by marrying you.”

“Of course you do,” you nodded once, and you quickly attempted to compile a list of things in your head.  You hoped you were a better liar than you thought you were.  “I’m a brilliant fighter, I’m brave, and I’m a better strategist than anyone you’ve ever met.”  
“Are you offering to help me fight my war?  Conquer the lands?  You declared me your worst enemy earlier today; you said you’d destroy me.”

You smirked and shrugged.  “I’ll get there eventually,” you promised, “but first, a little power never hurt.”  Perhaps mixing in some truth with some lies would help make things more believable.  


He smiled back.  That surprised you, but you did you best to keep your confident look on your face.  “I do like an ambitious woman.  But there’s no way you’ll have any chance of killing me, just so you’re aware.”

“Well, we won’t know until I try, will we?” you raised an eyebrow.

The King sheathed his sword, and you decided that was the most surprising thing he’d done all day.  Did all that nonsense you spouted just then actually work?  Perhaps he was even more mad then you had previously thought.

“I should know the name of my future bride,” he told you.

Your smirk was quickly replaced by a grimace, “The people of this city call me The Warrior of Night.”

He raised an eyebrow, “So you won't tell me your real name?”

“Names are sacred things,” you said, “ Earn the privilege, first.  Then, perhaps I will grace you with that bit of knowledge.”

“Hmpf,” cracked his knuckles, still smiling, “Well, my name is Ryan, if you wish to know, darling.”

You shrugged, still frowning.  He opened his mouth to say something else, but you both turned toward the door as it burst open, all five of the King’s personal guards standing just outside the doorway.

“My King!” one shouted, “We heard fighting and- is that the girl from earlier?”

You were horribly aware of the fact your sword still pointed toward the King.  Each guard unsheathed his weapon and started to rush toward you.

“Wait!” King Ryan shouted, and the Guards stopped in their tracks, and turned to look at him.  He turned toward you as he spoke to them, “This woman is to be my queen.”


	10. Part 10

The King's Guards looked between you and the King with slight confusion and slowly sheathed their weapons.  You lowered your sword but kept it gripped firmly in your hand.

One of the guards--the one dressed in that green and red outfit--spoke up, "She has agreed to give you an heir?"

"Well, no... not as of yet," the King replied turning toward them, "Actually, she aims to kill me."

"Um, sire?" the one guard continued, as the rest made various confused noises, "I- If she wishes you dead, why do wish her to be your queen?"

"It's a bribe," the King explained, glancing back at you.  "I agree to make her queen, and until I do she won't kill me.  Besides, having her in the castle gives me a chance to continue to attempt to persuade her to bear me an heir."

Ohhh, that made sense.  You still thought it was still a stupid plan on his part; but at least now you knew he had a reason behind going through with it.

The Guard whose shoulder were draped with a bear skin spoke next, "My King, surely there is someone you could marry who... you know... isn't trying to kill you?"

"If she is here," the King replied, "then it will be exponentially easier for you to keep an eye on her, and makes sure she _does not_ kill me.  Correct?"

This was met by a chorus of weak nods and various variations of "Yeah," and "I suppose," from the Guards.

"Besides," King Ryan continued, "Who better to bear my heir than a woman such as she?  Strong, smart," he turned and smiled and off-putting smile at you, "and beautiful."

You grimaced slightly in disgust.  From most people you knew you would have welcomed the compliment, but from the King it simply made you a bit queasy.  "I'll be queen, but you'll have no luck in convincing me to give you a child," you told him.

The King waved a hand dismissively, "We shall see about that.  But for now," he turned to his Guards, "why don't we find a room for the future Queen?  One with no escape routes.  Where she can have an eye kept on her."

You slowly sheathed your sword, and softly cleared your throat but said nothing.  One of the Guards--the one in the green and red--nodded, "Of course my King."  The other Guards looked apprehensively at each other, but apparently had no urge to go against their King's wishes, no matter how much they disagreed with them.  "This way, my lady," the bear-skin-clad Guard bowed to you and walked out the door, followed closely by the four others, who all waited outside the door for you.

You glanced at the King once more quickly and went to follow them out.  The Guard wearing the suit turned to the King, "Would you like us to set her up in the room usually designated for the Queen of the lands?"  The King simply nodded and waved the Guards, and you, away.

The Guards positioned themselves in a circle around you and started walking down the hall, forcing you to walk with them.  None of them said anything as you walked; and you couldn't think of anything to say, so you followed them silently.  They led you quickly down the hall, and down a set of stairs.  You tried to keep track of where in the castle you were; and if your guess was correct, the room they led you to was right under the King's.

The Guard wearing the green and red opened the door for you, "This is your room, my lady."

You nodded, took a few steps inside, looked around for a few moments, and turned back to the guards.  "What are your names, by the way?" you asked.

The Guards looked around at each other for a moment before the one in the odd green armor pointed to each Guard in turn and told you their names.  The one in the creeper garb was Gavin; the one with the bear skin draped over his shoulders was Michael; the one wearing the suit was Ray; the Guard pointed to himself and told you his name was Geoff; and lastly he pointed to the Guard in green and red and told you that man's name was Jack.

Geoff then told the rest of the Guards to find you some clean clothes so you wouldn't have to wear your armor all day.  You almost told him you didn't want anything from them, but you decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a new pair of clothes, even if you didn't plan on wearing them any time soon.  "I'll stay here, and keep an eye on her, like Ryan said."

He called the King by his name, that was interesting.  They must be close.  Or he didn't truly recognize the King's authority.  The other Guards took off to go find things for you or attend to other duties, while Geoff leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms, "This room look OK for you?"

"Yeah," you mumbled, looking around the room.  "Hey," you looked back at him, "what do uh... how do you feel about the King?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Whadda ya mean?"

"Like," you waved a hand around and shrugged, "If I were to, say, lead a rebellion against him, would you maybe... support me in that endeavor?"

He chuckled, "No, sorry, sweetie."

"Damn," you breathed.  Of course, you still had four other Guards to ask that question, but you weren't too hopeful you would get a "yes" out of any of them.

A few moments later, another of the Guards--Ray--appeared from behind Geoff holding a folded set of clothes, "I brought you some new clothes.  The King picked 'em out special."

"Oh, thanks," you told him, "You can set them on the bed, I suppose."

He set the clothes on the green sheets of your new bed, and gave you a halfhearted bow, "The King says he'll give you some time to explore your new room, but he'll be in later, as he wishes to talk to you.  He's given me instructions to make sure you don't leave the room, so Geoff and I will stand guard outside the door."

You rolled your eyes, "Whatever.  I've got no plans to leave until I have a decent claim to the throne, anyways."

You heard Geoff mumble, "Power hungry, no wonder Ryan likes her," as he and Ray left the room.

The Guards closed the door behind them and left you to look around your room.  The walls were covered in green and gold print that resembled some sort of vines and leaves.  The bed and curtains were also green and gold, in the same pattern as the King's.  In fact, the entire room seemed to be much the same as the King's, minus the various vanities and desks that lined his walls.

The thing in the room that held you attention the most however, was the painting above the bed.  From what you could tell, it was painted in the same style--perhaps even by the same artist--as the portrait hung above the King's bed, but the subject of the painting was much different.  It showed a beautiful garden, and you realized it was the garden you had come through the first time you entered the castle.

You remembered you could see the garden from the King's bedroom, and wondered if you could see it from yours.  As you went to look, you realized you were in the room you had run through when you ran from the King before he threw you in the dungeon.  That was definitely the same balcony you landed on.

You opened the doors to the balcony and stepped out.  The garden was  underneath; you could see the entirety of it from there.  Unfortunately, you noticed, jumping off the balcony would not be a good escape plan if you needed it; you were nearly five stories up.

You spent some time looking at the garden, and watching birds of various colors flit around it before you heard a curt knock at your door, and the creaking of hinges as someone slowly opened the door.  You turned to see the King there, smiling just as proudly as ever, "Hello darling."


	11. Part 11

"Do you like the room?" the King asked.

You glanced around as you answered, "I suppose so,” then a question occurred to you, “Why are the rooms here so small?"

He walked through your room to come stand by you on the balcony as he explained, "This castle was only built for a ruler of much less land than I currently rule.  I've been meaning to design a new one, but I've simply been so busy with the battles.  You know, the ones against forces of lands who resist my ruling them."

“I know of them,” you frowned.  “You know I intend to stop that war as soon as I am able, yes?”

“And how would you do that?” he smirked.  “Even if you sent orders, the troops do not know of you.  You think they would risk my wrath on the word a woman who only  _claims_ to be Queen, and can offer no proof?”

You crossed your arms, “Then I’ll send one of your personal Guards with the message; they know your Guards, yes?”

“You really think you can get my Guards to support you and go against me and my orders?”

“I’ll do my damndest to get them on my side; you’d best not doubt that.”  You looked up at him and smirked, “I can be surprisingly persuasive.”

“I’m sure you can, darling,” he smirked back and chuckled.  You angrily mumbled some vague insult.  If the King heard you he didn't respond.

It was silent for several moments before you spoke again, “So.”

“So?” the King looked over to you again and raised an eyebrow as you turned to lean your back against the balcony guardrail as you looked over your room once again.

“You’re giving me a chance to have some claim the throne, with the full intent of taking it away later through convincing me to give you an heir--who would have more claim the the throne than I--and you think all of that nonsense is going to convince me not to kill you?”

The King shrugged slightly and nodded, “Well you won’t, will you?  Even ignoring all that business about an heir, you’re still worried who would come into power after I die.”

You sighed.  You knew he was right; you couldn't get rid of him, not quite yet.  You turned back around to look at the garden once more, “The people would welcome a chance to throw you off the throne.  The only reason they have not is because they fear the wrath of those you would leave behind--your Guards; and it is much the same for me.  You are correct, I am worried about who would take power after you.  The only reason I agreed to stay here with you is so you will allow me to get close to your Guards, so I can make sure they will back my cause when to get you off the throne.”

The King thought about all this for a moment, “They won’t, you know.  Help you, that is.  They’re quite loyal to me.”

You grit your teeth slightly, “Yeah, I have noticed Geoff appears to be, but I have yet to have a proper conversation with the rest.  I  _will_ convince them to support me, have no doubt.”

“I’m not entirely sorry to say you’ll have no luck in that endeavor, darling,” he smirked.  You frowned and were silent for some time.

“Well then,” you shrugged, “I will simply have to get rid of them too.”

“Murder?” he said.  You weren't sure if it was a question or a suggestion.

You raised an eyebrow at him, “Not by my hand certainly, if at all.  Murder should be a last resort.  Besides, if it should come to that, I’m not sure if I could do it, myself.”

“You said you would kill  _me_ if you knew no one else you wouldn't approve of could take the throne,” he mentioned.

You were silent for several moments, “Perhaps I could.  Perhaps I could not.  I won’t know until it comes to that.”

He raised an eyebrow at you and squinted slightly, “Have you not killed before?”

“Not a human,” you answered honestly, “I’m not sure that I could.”  It was silent again for several seconds while the King searched your face for some hint as to whether or not you were lying.  You went on, “Then again,” you shrugged with a slight smile, “I’m sure there are no shortage of people who would simply _a_ _dore_ the chance to slit your throat.”

The King chuckled, “Yes, I’m sure there are.  However, there are far fewer with the bravery and cunning to do what you have done.  You've caused me quite a bit of annoyance, you know.”

“Good,” you smirked, “that means I’m doing my job...  The next step, you realize, is to cause you quite a bit of pain.”

“I look forward to foiling all attempts,” he smiled.  You raised an eyebrow at him and sighed.

“So, why are you keeping me around?” you asked.  “What do you get out of all of this?”

“You already know I would like to have an heir for my throne.”

“And you know you will have no luck in getting one from me.  Besides that,” you said.

“A new face is always nice,” he told you, and you rolled your eyes.

“What?” you asked.

He smirked down at you, “I work with the same five men day in and day out.  A new face--especially one so lovely--is rarely a bad thing.”

“What about when the one that face belongs to is trying to kill you?”

He shrugged, “More interesting, perhaps; but not a problem.  Occupational hazard, if anything.”

You crossed your arms, “Your occupation is murder?”

“And conquering,” he smiled.

You frowned.  You once again remembered why you disliked him so much.  “In my infinite kindness, I’ll ask for your opinion.  Would you prefer to die by hanging or by guillotine?”

He laughed at your question, a not unpleasant laugh, and smiled at you.  A proper smile, not a smirk or a smile filled with superiority or pride, as you had often been treated to.  However, he did not answer, even condescendingly.

You turned away to look in toward your room again.  “Whatever,” you mumbled.   



	12. Part 12

It was some time before you or King Ryan spoke again.  The two of you stood on that balcony for several minutes.  While you listened to the birds singing in the garden below, you tried to come up with plans to convince the King's Guards to pledge their loyalty to your cause, that is, to kill their King.  You caught a glance at him out of the corner of your eye every so often.  You couldn't tell what he was thinking, but he appeared rather content with himself; and he still had that smile on his face from earlier.

You were the one to finally break the silence, "Haven't you got other things to do?"

"Perhaps," he answered, smiling down at you, "but few so enjoyable as this."

You rolled your eyes at him, and turned back to look down at the garden once more, taking the opportunity to take a step away from him without his noticing.  Looking down at the garden you saw several servants walking six white horses--the same ones you had seen the King and his Guards riding some time ago--through the gardens.

Then you remembered, "Noctis!" you half-shouted.  In all the excitement you had nearly forgotten about her.

The King turned to look at you, his smile turning to an expression of confusion at your outburst, "Gesundheit?"

"I- what- no," you turned to him and pointed down at the horses, "If you have horses, you have a stable to keep them in, yeah?"

"I- yes, why?”

"I have a horse; and I need a place to keep her,” you told him.  “I mean, she’s fine outside but, you know, a stable would obviously be a lot more comfortable of a place to stay."

“Wait, where have you kept her until now?”

“I-” you waved a hand around and shrugged slightly, “Just, you know, around.”

“Around?  Like... just roaming the city?” he looked incredibly perplexed.

“No, I mean like outside the city walls.  I let her wander, just like every time I stop somewhere with no public stables,” you explained.

“But we have public stables,” he said, “you passed them when you first came here.”

“That old run down, termite-eaten, pile of driftwood?” you scoffed, “You couldn’t  _pay_ me to keep my horse there...”  A thought occurred to you, “Please tell me the one where you keep your horses is far more well-kept.”

“Of course it is!  But my steed is also far more well-bred than any other in the city,” he bragged, “Including yours, no doubt.”

You gritted your teeth slightly at his statement and tried to hold your tongue; it would be a pointless argument to defend Noctis to someone like the King.  You decided, instead, to focus on what you deemed more important for the time being: your life-long companion having a pleasant place to stay, or at least one slightly more pleasant than where she had been for the past few days.  You squinted annoyedly at him, “I’m going to get my horse.  I’ll be back soon, and when I arrive I expect a stall in the stable to be cleaned and ready for her when I return.”

King Ryan looked somewhat shocked, and considerably angered at your tone, “Since when do you think you have the authority to talk to me like that?”

You rolled your eyes, and left without responding to him, cursing silently to yourself.  You never had been able to deal with people who thought themselves above you.  Perhaps you overestimated yourself when you thought you could befriend a King.  Unfortunately, you couldn’t really back out of your current plan at this point.

You walked quite a ways down the hall before you remembered you still didn’t know the layout of the castle, and weren’t entirely sure you could find your way out.  Luckily, you soon happened across a servant dressed in a fine suit, and you asked her to take you to the castle’s main door.  She nodded and smiled, and led you to the throne room, where you had first seen the King’s Guards.  The two giant door which led to outside were open, and a cool breeze and warm sunshine spilled into the room through them.  You thanked the servant--you didn’t realize until later you had forgotten to ask her name--and headed outside.

You made your way down the wide path from the throne room to the gate between the castle and the rest of the city quickly.  The gates were closed, but the guards there were surprisingly kind when you asked them to open them.  You knew why when, as you walked by, one mumbled after you, “Say ‘hi’ to Lily for us, will you?”  You stopped momentarily in surprise, nodded, and walked off toward the gate to the city, impressed by Lily’s circle of influence.

This time, when you walked through the streets, there was a noticeable difference in the atmosphere around you.  People no longer seemed to distrust you.  If anything, they seemed friendly and welcoming.  Perhaps even glad to see you.  Lily must have done a truly incredible job of convincing the people you were here for their own good.

When you arrived at the gate to the city, the same man was standing guard there as the first time you came to the city.  You asked him to open the gate; and he and his companions let you through without comment, but there was no shortage of glares from them as you left.

You weren’t ten steps out the door when you heard someone shouting behind you.  You turned to see one of the King’s Guards--Ray--jogging after you, “Wait!”

You waited for him as he caught up to you and caught his breath. “Yes?” you asked, a slight smile playing at the edges of your lips.

“The King wanted me to escort you to the stables,” he informed you, breathing a bit harder than usual.  It was, to be fair, quite a jog to catch up with you so quickly.

“Oh,” you nodded slightly, “alright.”  You were glad for the opportunity to talk with him; perhaps you could convince him to support you, rather than the King.  “Let’s go, then.”

He nodded, and the two of you walked off toward the forest to find Noctis.


	13. Part 13

Ray walked just behind you and off to your left as you led him away from the city.  One he caught his breath he asked you, "So... King Ryan seemed pretty angry when he sent me after you...  Did you say something to him?"

"I said a lot of things to him," you answered, "Few were, I imagine, as respectful as he is used to."

"Yeah, you don't really seem like someone who would be really worried about being offensive."

"Mmm," you shrugged, "When it's people like him I'm offending, not really."

Ray looked around for a moment, "So, uh, where are we going?"

"To meet up with Noctis.  Didn't he tell you?" you questioned.

"No.  Who's Noctis?"

"My horse," you explained.

"Oh, that's why King Ryan wanted me to take you to the stables," he nodded.

"I would imagine so."

"So, uh, where is your horse, exactly?"

"She's around," you answered simply.

Ray tilted his head to the side, "You mean you don't know?  How do you know she didn't just wander off?"

"She stays where I tell her," you assured him.  "I haven't seen her in a couple of days, but I've been gone for longer.  She can take care of herself."

"Smart horse, then," he guessed.

"Very," you agreed.

Ray was silent for a while. "Do you really plan to kill him?"

You sighed softly, and looked up toward the sky through the tree branches, "I plan... to do whatever I can to make the lives of the people of this country the best I can... And for the moment, it looks like Killing him is the best way to go about that."

Ray considered this, "I mean... he's not the best King-"

"That's an understatement if I ever heard one," you scoffed.

"...But... I still owe him my loyalty.  He's the one who gave me the life I have now..."

You turned to look at him, "Is the life you have now worth the lives of thousands?"

Ray looked down, "I just don't know what to do.  When I'm in the castle it's easy to pretend there isn't any killing, and that everything's the same as when Geoff was King."

You stopped dead in your tracks, "What?"

Ray blushed and looked panicked.  He obviously wasn't supposed to tell you that.  "I-"

"Geoff used to be King?  How does that work?" you demanded.

Ray scratched the back of his head and still refused to look at you, "I- I wasn't supposed to mention that..."

"Well, you have.  So you may as well tell me the rest of the story," you insisted.

Ray sighed.  He considered this.  "Geoff was ready to pass on the throne.  Without any heirs, he decided one of his Guards should take his place.  So, he created a competition between us, and Ryan won.  And so no we owe our allegiance to _him_."

You were quite for a moment, "So... that's why Geoff just calls him by his name," you mumbled.  You shook your head to clear your thoughts and stood up straighter, "So will Ryan choose his heir the same way if he has no family?  Is that why he wants a kid?"

Ray cleared his throat awkwardly, "Um, well, he, uh... he- he doesn't actually want a kid from you."

"What!?" you half shouted.  "Then what's he keeping me around for?" If King Ryan didn't really want an heir for you, any thoughts that you might have some idea of why he was letting you stay in the castle went out the window.

Ray looked shy, "I, uh, don't know.  He didn't tell us that."

You shouted in frustration and took a deep breath to calm yourself down.  "So.  Is he really even worried about an heir?"

"I don't think so," Ray shook his head, "He'd probably pick an heir from one of us if it ever came time for him to step down."

"It doesn't look like that time will come soon," you crossed your arms and bit your lip, looking off into space as you thought.

"That's the trouble," he told you, "Ryan was supposed to pick a new heir a while ago, but he's gone so mad with power he refuses to step down.  And we cant do anything about it because he's the King.  So he just keeps going with this war, gaining even more power."

"But there are five of you!  If you stood up to him together, it's be easy to get him off the throne."

"But I don't know how the others feel," he explained, "If I had to guess, I'd say they’re all incredibly loyal to King Ryan."

"Are _you_?" you asked.

"...No."

"Then how do you know they don't feel the same?"

Ray sighed, "Geoff and Ryan have been friends since long before either took the throne; they’re incredibly loyal to each other."

"I've noticed," you mentioned.  You hadn't talked to Geoff much, but you were pretty sure he wasn't lying about being loyal to the King.  And you hadn't talked to the King about Geoff, but if Ray was telling the truth, he probably liked him quite a bit.  "But what about the others?"

"I don't really know, I guess," he mumbled, "It's not like we've ever really talked about how we feel about King Ryan.  I guess we all just assumed the others support the King.  Especially after hearing Geoff's praise for him when he took over.  No one's ever spoke out against him.  Before you, anyways."

"So the only reason you haven't spoken out against this insanity is because you think you're the only one who wants this bloodshed to end?  That's ridiculous!"

Ray ran his hand through his hair, "Yeah, but," he sighed, "If I really am the only one, then it's be _me_ they'd get rid of."

"But aren't they your friends?  Don't-"

"Friends or not, Ryan is the _King_.  They _have_ to do what he says or he might just kill them himself."

You took a deep breath.  "But... I think I can get at least a couple of the other Guards to support the rebellion..," you mumbled.  You cleared your throat, "And if the two of us work together, we might just make it out of this whole think on top."

Ray thought about it.  "I'm behind you on this.  Quietly behind you, but behind you nonetheless."

You gave a weak smile and nodded lightly, "Good.  You watch my back and I'll watch yours, yeah?"

Ray nodded, and matched your smile, "Deal."

You took a deep breath, "Alright.   Come on, let's go find Noctis."


	14. Part 14

You and Ray didn't have to wander for long before you found Noctis; she was close to the city, no more than half a mile away when you found her.  Upon seeing her Ray commented on how she looked just as healthy and well taken care of as his own horse, and possibly even the King's.  You agreed, and took a few moments to stroke Noctis' neck, happy to see her after so long.

You signaled for her to follow you and started to walk back toward the castle.  You turned to Ray as the three of you walked, “So where is the stable the King wants you to take me to?”

“You know the gate you came in when you first arrived?” he asked, and you nodded.  “Well it's on the inside of the city walls, on the far right side from there.”  You nodded again, and tried to picture a layout of the city in your mind.  There were a lot of places you still hadn't been, even with all the running around you had done.

The walk back to the city was quiet and rather slow but not unpleasant, but your mind still began to wander as you walked.  You were fairly certain you could trust Ray, or at least you wanted to be, but there was always the possibility he was lying about supporting you and the rebellion.  You tried not to think about it.  If you were going to lead the people to freedom, you would need all the confidence you could get, unfounded or not.

The guards at the front gate gave you the same annoyed stare as always when you passed them, with Ray and Noctis close behind.  You ignored them.

As you walked, some people in the city nodded at you, and a couple even gave you half salutes.  Several gave you rather odd looks as you passed, but you guessed that had more to do with the large black horse lumbering after you than anything else.

You let Ray lead your group, so he could show you the way to the stables.  When you finally arrived, you saw two of the King's Guards outside the stables--the one wearing a bear skin, Michael; and the one who wore all green, Gavin.  They didn't seem to notice you until Ray called out to them in greeting.  The two turned to wave at Ray, but when Michael saw you with him, his gaze hardened.

Upon seeing this, you grabbed Noctis' reins, and mentioned to Ray you were going to take Noctis inside.  He nodded with a smile, apparently oblivious to Michael's glare.  You walked quickly past Michael and Gavin into the building, avoiding eye contact.

Holding on to Noctis' reins, perhaps a bit too tightly, you looked around for anyone who could tell you if King Ryan had picked a specific stable for you to keep Noctis in.  “Hello?” you called out.

A young girl peeked out from one of the stables.  A familiar young girl.  “Yes?”

“Lily?” you half shouted.

Lily shook her head and motioned for you to be quiet, “Pretend you don't know me.”

You glanced back at the door to make sure none of the Guard were listening in.  “What are you doing here?” you whispered harshly.

“I work here.” she whispered back, just as harsh.

“Seriously?”

“So far as they're concerned,” she pointed out toward the Guards, “Yeah.”

“What?”

“We need to talk, so if they come in, I'm just a servant girl helpin' you with your horse.  Also, you 'ave a horse?” she squinted at Noctis with slight confusion.

“I- yeah, Noctis, she- it doesn't matter, just, why do we need to talk?” you asked.

“It's nothin' bad,” Lily promised as she lead Noctis into a stable, “I just wanted to give you an update.”  Once Lily got Noctis into her stable you started to untie the couple of bags from her saddle.  “I have lots of friends; and I got 'em to help me spread the word about you, and how you're gonna get the King off the throne.”  You unstrapped Noctis' reins and saddle and hung them on the wall outside the stable.  “We got people willin' to stand behind you on this.  Apparently all they needed was someone to take the first step, to tell them it wasn't hopeless.”

It was quiet for a while as you thought about what Lily had said and you made sure Noctis would be comfortable.  “Thanks,” was all you could manage, as you and Lily closed the door to Noctis' new stable behind you.  You glanced back quickly to make sure the Guards still weren't listening.

“Listen, it was nice seein' 'ya, but I got things to do.  We're movin' up, see if we can get some people higher up on our side,” Lily said.

“Who's 'us'?” you questioned.

“People.  Lots.  More everyday.”

You sighed, “Isn't there anything I can do to help, though?”

“Just by being a figure'ead for the rebellion you've done more to put it into motion than anyone else.  It'd probably be better if you stick to what you've been doin'.”

You sighed.  She had a point, even if you didn't like it.  After several years of living on your own, you weren't fond of letting people do things for you.  Especially when you couldn't see any immediate results.  “Fine, just... keep me updated, OK?”

Lily nodded, “You got it, boss!  Se 'ya!”  She gave you a smile and a thumbs up before heading quickly out a back door of the stable.

“Boss?” you mumbled.  You shrugged and turned to head outside, but found yourself face to face with Michael.  He didn't look happy.

He almost growled as he spoke, “Listen, I gotta do what the King tells me, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.  I don't trust you, and I don't like you.  I like King Ryan.  And I'm going to support him in whatever decision he makes.   _Especially_ if it involves getting rid of  you .”

“What if it involves marrying me?” you smirked.

“We'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen.”  He stormed off, out of the barn and back toward the castle.

You saw Gavin peak into the stables at you, and then glance back at Michael.  He looked like he would go follow him, but instead he jogged toward you.  “Hey,” he said, “Sorry about him.  Doesn't like new people.” He glanced back at Michael again.  “I just wanted to tell you... I think Ryan's too far gone to be a good King.  I think that happened a while ago.  I just want you to know... I'm on your side.”

You raised an eyebrow, “Really?”

He nodded and gave you a weak smile.  You nodded back, and he went running off after Michael.  You sighed, and turned to go gather up your couple of bags of stuff that had previously been hung on Noctis’ saddle.

As you did so, you thought to yourself, ' _Two out of five for.  One out of five against.  And two unknown.'_   



	15. Part 15

You slung one bag over your shoulder and went to head back toward the castle when Ray peaked his head in the door, "Need some help with that?" he asked.

"Hm?  Oh, no, I got it," you assured him.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," you nodded, "Thanks though."

"Shall I walk you back to the castle, then?  I was headed that way."

"That'd be great," you smiled.  "I still haven't really learned my way around the place, think you can get me back to my room?"

"Oh, yeah," he joked, and winked.

"Shut the hell up," you smiled.  "Lead on, idiot," you said as you followed him out the door, away from the stables.  You cast a quick smile and wave at Noctis before you headed after Ray, toward the castle.  The walk there was quick; you and Ray didn't talk much besides a bit of small talk here or there.  

When you arrived, Ray lead you through the mostly empty castle and up to your room rather quickly.  He apologized for not being able to give you a proper tour and simply gave a quick excuse of, "I'd like to, but I'm just too busy."

During your walk through the castle you passe another of the King's Guards--Jack.  He nodded and smiled at you as you passed, so at least you knew he didn't dislike you as much as Michael seemed to.  Unfortunately, however, a smile and nod does not equate to the support of our rebellion.

Ray left you at the door of your room with a curt bow and his apologies, and walked off quickly back the way he had come.  You watched him leave for a moment before opening the door to your room.

It was as you left it, except for what appeared to be a set of clothes and a note on the bed,  You stuffed your bags under the bed before looking closer at the items left on top of it.

Upon closer inspection, the clothes turned out to be a silk nightgown and the not more like a letter, written on thick paper and in golden ink.  It read:

_Hello darling._   
_I do hope you and your steed are satisfied with the stable as you found them, as I imagine you will be keeping him there for some time._

You correct the "him" in regard to Noctis with a "her" in your mind as you read.  You were surprised; he didn't sound all too angry.  Not as of yet, anyways.

_Also, I should appreciate it if you were to treat your future husband with more respect._

Ah, yes, there it was, and more to come.  The annoyance and rude comments.

_After all, we have to put with with each other until one of us manages to kill the other.   And in any case, I'e treated you with more respect anyone else who would try to kill me._

You rolled your eyes.  You almost wished he did properly try to kill you, it might finally give you the motivation to kill him.

_Also, I've left you a gift with this note, as I'm sure you've noticed.  I cannot imagine those grubby rags you've been walking around in can be very comfortable to sleep in._

You grit your teeth at the insult, and read faster, hoping to get the experience of reading the King's writing over with.  You couldn't stand him any more in writing than you could in person.

_If you require anything else, just find a guard or servant, they've been told to do as you wish... mostly._   
_With Love,_   
_King Ryan_

You threw the note down on the ground and kicked it under the bed, unfolded the nightgown, and held it up in front of you.  If was black and lacy,  The fabric felt nice, but you weren't sure if you would be comfortable taking off your armor in the King's castle yet to put it on.

Looking out the window, you realized the sun was quite low in the sky.  The various candles around the room apparently kept you from telling how late it really was without looking outside.  You decided you didn't want to sleep in your armor, and, as much as you hated him for it, the King was right, the clothes you had on under your armor was old and dirty.

It was probably the most comfortable option at the moment.  Sighing, you took off all your armor slowly, and shoved that under the ed as well, on the other side.  Your bow and arrows went with it, but your sword was put behind the bed, leaning against it, between bars on the headboard, so you could grab it easily without getting out of bed.

You slipped the nightgown over your head, an let it fall the rest of the way down.  It felt nice, especially compared to your stuffy and heavy armor.  You spun around, and saw that a tall mirror had been placed in the corner by the door.

Walking over, you saw yourself in the mirror, wearing the new nightgown.  You were loath to say it, but you thought you looked so good in it you were almost thankful to the King.  You'd never say it out loud, though.

You sighed, and circled around the room, blowing out all the candles--on the bedside tables, or on stands around the room before finally crawling into bed.  You were used to sleeping in dangerous places, but not in places where there was someone actively trying to kill you; you weren't sure if you'd be able to sleep.

You thought to yourself, you could always sneak out and down to the inn you had stayed at before, but you ultimately decided it would be too much bother.  You had your sword at arm's reach, and that was a big enough comfort for you to finally drift off, although not until some time after you ad crawled into bed.

You slept soundly that night.  That is, at least until the sound of a door opening and a sword being drawn woke you up.


	16. Part 16

The sound of the metal being drawn from the sheath startled your body into action, and before your mind had properly awaken, you found yourself grabbing your sword from its own sheath and holding the point toward the source of the noise.  It was the King.

"Hello darling," he purred.

You blinked the bleariness of sleep from your eyes and hardened our gaze.  "Good morning," you growled.  You gestured toward his sword with yours, "Interesting wake up call."

He shrugged, "It wasn't supposed to wake you up.  It was supposed to do quite the opposite in fact..."

"Killing me in my sleep is hardly sporting, don't you think?"

"Murder is rarely sporting.  But often effective in getting me what I want; and that's the important bit, wouldn't you agree?" he smirked.

"Why would you give me a new nightgown only to have me killed a few hours after?  Why bother?"  Funny, the things you think of when faced will the possibility of death.

He shrugged, "False sense of security.  And besides, silk is so much easier to cut than what you usually wear."

You rolled your eyes and sighed, "I'm confused.  Do you want me dead not?"

"Doesn't matter, serves me either way," he said, and you frowned.

"Is that the truth?  Because you've given me lots of answers, and I've come to find most of them are not as useful as you would lead me to believe."  He chuckled, but didn't answer.  "And in any case, that wasn't exactly a proper answer.  You know why _I'm_ here: to get you off the throne and stop all the needless bloodshed you've brought to this country by any means necessary.  As mortal enemies I should like at least the same consideration from you."

He chuckled at that.  "If you die, you're no longer any trouble.  If you don't, then I get someone who I can manipulate into doing as I say in return for the safety of others.  If none of my plans to kill you work, it couldn't worry me less."

You glared at him, and your grip on the sword tightened, "...I should kill you."

"You should," he replied, and your eyebrow twitched.  "And yet you haven't.  Why is that?"  You weren't sure if you were more upset that you didn't have an answer or that _he knew_ you didn't have an answer.  You readjusted your grip on your sword as he went on, "You can't, can you?  You've never killed another human; I can see it in your eyes.  You go on and on about getting rid of me and yet you don't even know if you can.  Is that why you've been talking to my Guards?  So you can convince them to do your dirty work for you?"

You growled at the implication, "No.  I've been trying to _stop_ the killing.  All of it."

He sheathed his sword, clasped his hands behind his back, and stood up straight.  The looked annoyingly regal when he did that.  "So what do you plan to do with me?  I've heard you say you plan to kill me and yet you cannot, and you apparently won't let anyone else.  I mean, I'm hardly going to do it myself, darling."

He was messing with you, you knew it; at the moment you were nothing but an amusement.  He couldn't care in the least what your plans actually were; he knew--or thought he knew--he could stop them.  "We can lock you up.  In the dungeon.  Like you did me." It was the first thing that came to mind.  As soon as you said it, you thought of all the flaws in that plan.  You were always better at physical fights rather than verbal ones.

He chuckled, "You remember how easy it was for you to escape?  I know this castle far better than you, I'll have no trouble getting out."

"I had help getting out."   _Probably shouldn't have told him that_ , you thought.  "I'll make sure there's no one to help you."

He looked far too smug for your comfort.  "Who helped _you_?"

"Like I would tell you," you spat.

"I'm bound to find out at some point."

"I'll make sure that never happens either."   _Why do you keep talking?  You're making it worse_ , you chided yourself.

"You make a lot of promises for someone who can't keep them.  Face it.  You can't do this.  Honestly, I'm only keeping you around to break the monotony.  It does get so dull with no one to kill."  You grit your teeth in anger as he spoke.  "You're fooling yourself if you think you have any chance of coming out of all this ahead.  You're just a girl with a sword who convinced herself she's a hero.  You're nothing but an amusement to me and a false hope to everyone you're trying to protect.  And I will bring great pleasure in showing them just how false that hope is."

You were terrified of the prospect that he was right.  What could you do, really?  He's a King, and heir or no he still had several guards on his side who'd be happy to kill you and take his place as King.  You readjusted your grip on your sword again, "I _will_ kill you."

"Really?" he asked, and started toward you.  "Then why not do it now?"  He took several steps forward until the point of your sword rested against the front of his chest.

You and he locked eyes.  If it was a battle for dominance, you were losing.  He had psyched you out, and as much as that pissed you off, you couldn't bring yourself back together.  You wished you were wearing your armor, it was as close to home ground as you had.  "I..." you mumbled.

"Come on, then," he insisted.  "You have a chance to end it all right here.  This could be over.  All that suffering worry so about, as good as gone.  You just have to kill me."  He didn't break eye contact, and you were too frozen in place to look away.  If he had, perhaps you could have recollected yourself.  But instead, he only smirked with superiority.  You lowered you sword, and realized you were nearly breathless.  "I thought as much.  Breakfast will be ready soon, darling; I'll send someone up to fetch you when it is.  Get dressed before then; I'll send clean clothes up."

He turned away, and walked out without another word.  No longer faced with him right in front of you, you realized just how angry you were.  He had ridiculed you, and called you childish.  He didn't even think of you as a proper opponent, just a plaything.  You swore to yourself you would make him pay for thinking so.


	17. Part 17

You kicked the bedpost nearest you in frustration and cursed under your breath.  To be fair, though you didn't want to, you really _weren't_ a real opponent to the King or his rule for the time being.  He had leagues of guards just in the city, plus his five personal Guards.  All you had was Lily's word that people would support you.  All the nods and smiles in the world meant nothing against King Ryan; you needed people who could fight--that's why you had been talking to his Guards.  Most people in the city were too weak from being so mistreated to offer any kind of backup in a battle for the throne, no matter what Lily said they were _willing_ to do.

You ambled over to the bed and slid your sword back into the sheath, and sighed.  You decided you should probably worry more about your current situation at the moment--you weren't about to sit up in your room all day, and you weren't going to walk around the castle in a nightgown.  You didn't want to wear anything the King gave you; your armor would undoubtedly protect you better.  And so, you got down to look under the bed... only to find all of your belongings missing.  You cursed aloud this time.

A voice from outside you room ventured, "Is now a bad time?"

The voice sounded vaguely like King Ryan's, but... not.  "What? Oh, uh, no, come in."

The door was opened, slowly, to reveal one of the King's Guards, Jack.  You were almost glad to see him.  You hadn't had a chance to talk to Jack about the King or the rebellion; perhaps now would be your chance.

You nodded in greeting to him, and he did so in return.  He held what you thought was an outfit for you, and this was confirmed by his declaration of, "Brought you something."  He raised an eyebrow, "Why are you on the floor?"

"I- it doesn't matter," you grumbled as you got back to your feet.  "What did you bring me?  New clothes?"

"New and old," he said.  "King Ryan had the clothes you brought with you cleaned as well."  You fought the urge to be grateful.  Jack went on, "And he's having your armor polished, but I haven't got that with me."  You fought the urge to be worried.  Who knows what the King would do to your armor; you wouldn't put it past him to have someone absolutely destroy it.

You distracted yourself with a question to him: "Why does the King keep sending his Guards to bring me things; why doesn't he send one of his servants?"

Jack just shrugged, "No idea; maybe he doesn't trust them."  You sighed; it probably didn't matter much.  "Shall I leave you to get dressed?  King Ryan asked me to escort you to breakfast when you are ready."

"Uh, yeah, yeah, thanks."  He handed you the clothes and went to walk out, "King Ryan asked that you hurry.  I'll be waiting outside."

"I'll just be a moment then," you promised.

He nodded, and left, shutting the door behind him.

You turned back to the bed, tossed the clothes on it, and looked through what the King had sent up for you: a new set of underclothes; two pairs of pants and two tunic, not too fancy, but not plain; and a black, lacy dress that went down to just past your knee.  You opted for the plainer of the two tunics--the dark green one--and a pair of black pants.  They would be easier to run in--the dress was too tight for you to be able to make a mad dash for the door if necessary.

You changed quickly, and threw on the new underclothes as well.  You left the clothes you had worn to bed with the rest of the clothes strewn across the bed.  You thought about bringing a knife--bringing your sword might be too much like a threat for your tastes at the moment--but you then remembered all your things were gone.

You cursed softly again, and turned to leave, disappointed.  You opened the door slowly, so as to make sure you didn't hit Jack if he happened to be standing right in front of the door.

When you saw him standing on the other side of the hall, you opened the door all the way.  "I'm all set, I suppose," you told him.

He nodded, smiled, and motioned for you to follow him down the hall.  You fell into step just behind him and to his right as he walked.

"So," he turned to look at you, "how're you doing?"

"Fine, I suppose...  Busy with, you know, the whole rebellion thing," you waved a hand around as you talked.

"Really?  I hope you don't mind my saying so, but it doesn't seem like you've done much for that but talk."

He didn't mean to offend you, you were sure, but in any case he was right.  You hadn't done much but talk.  Lily was the one making things happen.  At this point you were really just a figurehead for a rebellion that had little chance of achieving much of anything.

"I'm... working on it..," you mumbled.  "...What do _you_ think of the rebellion and all that, anyways?"

Jack slowed his pace, and turned to face you again, "I, uh..."  He cleared his throat and went on, "I think... there have been better Kings."

Jack left it at that, and sped up his pace to the point where you almost struggled to keep up with him.  You didn't push the subject any farther.

Eventually Jack stopped in front of a large double door and pushed it open, to reveal a long room with yellowish-gold wallpaper.  The center of the room was taken by a rather long table, with seven places set with golden plates and utensils: one at the head of the table, presumably for the King, and three places set on each side, presumably for you and his Guards.  All seven places were set far to one of the ends of the table, leaving most of it bare.  Wine was already poured in each glass.

He led you in, and sat you down at a seat so you would have one person on each side of you, and you were on the left side of the table to where the King would be sitting.  He sat beside you, in one of the two spots furthest from the King.  "The others will be here soon," he told you.

You nodded slowly.  Dinner with the King and all six of his Guards.  This should be interesting.

Only moments later, King Ryan walked in through the same door you and Jack had earlier.  He was closely followed by his four other Guards.  Each took their own spot at the table: King Ryan at the head, Geoff took the other seat next to you, and Gavin sat across from you, with Michael to his left and Ray to his right.

None of them said anything, and so you remained quiet as well, but you tried to make sure you gave off an air of confidence and pride.

The King was the one to break the silence, after everyone had taken their seats.  "How is everyone?"  There was a chorus of murmurs and nods and vague declarations of being "pretty good" in reply.  You were silent, until the King spoke to you directly, "And what about you, darling?  Did you like the clothes I sent up to you?"

"They were fine," you assured him.  "Thank you," you added, though you didn't mean it, and you were sure everyone else knew that.

"Hungry?" he asked the table, and there was another, slightly more excited chorus of vague agreement.  King Ryan smiled and snapped his fingers.  In response, a small group of waiters appeared with large plates of food, and they set them down on the table.  "Let's eat," King Ryan declared, though no one took anything until after he was done loading his plate with food.

The waiters had brought all sorts of things: pork, beef, potatoes, and even pie.  You grabbed a slice of beef and some potatoes and hungrily dug in.  It wasn't until the waiters had appeared that you remembered you hadn't eaten in a couple of days.  It was silent for some time as you ate, until the King spoke up.

"So," King Ryan said through mouthfuls of food, "Darling, how's that rebellion of your's going?"  He smiled wickedly as he ate, and you carefully chewed and swallowed a big bite of beef and took a gulp of wine before answering.

"Fine.  Better every day," you answered.

"Ah, well, that's no matter," he took a sip of his own wine, "I imagine you'll be too sick to do much in just a while."

You set your fork down and glanced at your almost empty cup of wine.  "Why?" you asked slowly.

He smirked.  "Because there's a bit of poison in your drink."  Every Guard turned to look at you, some with worried expressions, and some with triumphant ones.  "Not enough to kill you, of course," the King went on, "We wouldn't want that, would we darling?  It's only enough to put you out of action for a few days."

You glared at him, and smirked.  And then you downed the rest of your wine.  Rule one of being an adventurer who has to cook for herself from food she finds in the wild: become immune to as many things as possible.  You just really hoped whatever was in the wine was something you had trained yourself not to mind having.  If not, that little spark of rebellion was probably going to make the next few days a nightmare.

You slammed the empty cup back on the table, and stood up, pushing your chair out.  "Have an excellent meal, boys, and thank you for the food and drink," you declared, and walked out of the dining room, feeling triumphant, if a bit ill.


	18. Part 18

You closed the door to the dining room behind you a bit harder than you probably had to, resulting in a nice _**'** ** _s_ lam'**_ as it crashed shut.  Finally out of the dining room and away from the King and his Guards, you leaned against the door and put a hand on your belly.  You weren't sure if you were feeling ill from the poison or simply from eating too fast after not having eaten for so long.  Hopefully the latter.

To be fair, you didn't really feel like a "poisoned" kind of ill, but you knew the King said the poison was only supposed to put you out for a few days.  If a stomach ache was all you got, you'd consider yourself lucky; you were fairly certain you could push through that.

Of course, you couldn't help but feel that it didn't matter how ill you were.  King Ryan had apparently tried to make you ill in hopes of stalling your efforts in relation to the rebellion, but honestly, you couldn't help but feel like you weren't doing any work.  Like Jack had said, you hadn't done much recently but talk.  You might have been the first to act out against the King, but single-person rebellions rarely work out.  You needed people to support you.  And you'd been told you had them.  But what right did you have to lead innocents into a near-hopeless battle when you hadn't spoken to a single one?

You took a deep breath, and decided to take a walk, and try to clear your head--and hopefully forget the pain in your stomach.  That would surely help.

You wandered for quite a while, and got lost fairly soon.  It wasn't a large castle by any means, but the layout of the place just made no sense to you.  Your stomach didn't hurt so long as you didn't think about it.  By now you were fairly sure it was just nerves that made you feel so ill.

The halls were as bare as ever--the same reddish carpeting and brown and gold wallpaper throughout.  Same oak doors throughout, as well.  Really, it was no wonder you got lost; every hall looked the same as the last.

Eventually, however, you did finally stumble across something of interest: a set of double doors was cracked open, allowing you to take a peek inside.  If your days of adventuring had taught you anything, it was this: important things are always kept behind double doors.

You pushed one door open, resulting in  a painful squeak from the hinges that turned out to be rather loud.  So much for subtlety.  The door swung open slowly, to reveal one of the largest libraries you had ever seen.

You took two steps inside the room, and spent some time looking around the room in awe.  The shelves were packed full of thick volumes and nearly touched the ceiling.  In the center of the room were four chairs, two facing one way and the other two just across, facing the first two.  The only section of wall not covered by one of the tall bookcases was a large floor to ceiling window.  The window let in the late morning like and gave the whole room a warm, yellow glow.  It was a beautiful and rather comforting place, overall.

You wandered around the room, browsing the shelves, reading the titles of each book's spine.  You could read most of them, but some--mostly the ones with cracked covers and yellowed pages--seemed to be in ancient languages you'd never seen before.

You picked one at random and sat down in one of the chairs to read.  The book you picked was called _The Ocelot's Eye_ \--some story about pirates and jewels.  You skimmed the pages, and were soon lost in the story.

As such, you didn't noticed when someone walked into the room some time later until they had sat down in the chair across from yours.  Your gaze broke from the words on the page and you looked up to see Geoff sitting there, leaning far back in his chair with his knees spread far apart.

You hoped your expression made you look as unimpressed as you wanted it to.  "Yes?"

"How are you feeling?" he smirked.

You smiled back, somewhere between simply annoyed and furious, "Just as fine as ever; and yourself?"

"Oh I'm just fine," he drawled.

It was silent for some time.  The two of you searched each other's expressions for some hint of... something, but neither found anything hidden there. You went back to reading, and Geoff watched you.

"You won't win, you know," he said.  You looked up from the book again.  "If you try to fight Ryan.  Your little rebellion thing hasn't got the strength."

You glared at him, "I have more support than you may think."

"You have support," he grinned, "But that doesn't mean you have strength."

You frowned.  He was right; support and strength weren't the same thing.  You didn't have many able fighters behind you, so far as you were aware.  "I can handle myself."  It was all you could think to say.

Geoff managed to look even more condescending than he had.  "I doubt you can take out Ryan and all his loyalists by yourself.  You need people to fight for you.  That's why you've been trying to convince the boys and I to support you, right?"

You closed the book and set it on the side table to your left, "I've found one can never have to many allies.  That doesn't mean I don't have plenty."

He chuckled, "Allies are all fine and good, but what about you?  Ryan told me you couldn't kill him.  Had your sword to his stomach and everything, and still couldn't do it.  What makes you think you can carry out this "rebellion" of yours?  Ryan's hardly done anything to stop it and it's dying already.  Can't really say it should have ever been a worry for him."

You clenched your jaw, "But what about you?  What do _you_ think of King Ryan?"  Geoff cocked an eyebrow and crossed his arms.  "Seems to me he's not the kind of king who would treat anyone well, not even his loyalists.  You had such high hopes for him, when he became King, didn't you?  And what has he done with your Kingdom?  Turned it into the mess it is now."  It took quite a lot of self control not to look as proud as you felt.  You had taken back control of the conversation, and you planned on keeping it.  "So," you grinned, "how do _you_ feel about King Ryan?  Right now?"

Geoff grimaced; he was silent for some time.  "I think," he growled, "that the King has overstayed his welcome on the throne."

You smiled, picked the book back up, and started flipping through the pages.  "And what do you think of the rebellion?"

He frowned, and answered softly, "Can't say I'm opposed to the idea...  But don't think for a second that that means I like you."

"That's fine," you smiled.  He stayed there for a while, as you read.  "Did you want to talk about something else, or was that it?"

Geoff got up annoyed and left without a word; shutting the door behind him.  So, Geoff at least wouldn't do anything to hinder your efforts, you were sure.  Although, you didn't see him _helping_ your efforts, either.

You sighed, and set the book back on the side table.  You rubbed your forehead and lamented over you current situation.  From what you could tell, it was pretty hopeless.  A thought occurred to you that you could simply leave all this behind, head off to some distant land and forget all about this.  Adventures do that sometimes, right?

But you didn't harbor the thought for long.  You couldn't leave all these people to King Ryan's rule; your conscience wouldn't allow it.

Your thought were interrupted by a curt knock and the squeaking of hinges.  You looked up at the door to see a small girl peeking out from behind one of the large doors.

"What are you doing here?" you asked Lily.

"Need ta' talk to ya,'" she explained, "come with me."

She disappeared back behind the door, and you quickly leapt to your feet  to follow her.


	19. Part 19

"Where are we going?" you asked Lily one you had caught up to her.

"You know 'ow I'm s'posed t' be out 'n about, findin' people t' support the rebellion?"

"Yeah, about that-"

"Turns out it's easier said than done."

"Lily, listen-"

"I figure people 'ill be more willin' to talk t' the one leadin' the rebellion then, well, me."

You stopped, and crossed your arms, "Lily, listen!"

She stopped as well, a few feet down the hall, and turned to face you, "What?"

You sighed.  "I've been thinking.  Support for the rebellion would be nice, but support from the people in the city doesn't mean a whole lot right now.  So long as I know they won't rebel if I kill King Ryan, that's all I need from them right now."

"But-"

"Few, if any, or then could help in a fight, right?  The fighting is what I'm concerned about right now.  I need to worry about the people who _will_ rebel if I kill King Ryan--his guards, for example, you know, the ones who have a decent chance of killing me if they wanted to?  And so far as I've seen, they do want to.  Right now, the only thing stopping them from coming after me are Ryan's Orders not to.  As soon as he's dead or gone, so are his orders.  I just- I need to try and gain favor with his loyalists right now."

Lily tapped her foot slightly.  She sighed.  "I'll... see what I c'n do."

"I'm not asking for your help-"

"You're gonna get it whether you ask for it 'r not.  Remember our talk in the dungeon?"

You sighed again. "Yeah..," you told her slowly.

"Alright," she nodded, "then you stay here, and try to get his personal Guards on your side, and I'll see what I can do about the rest of 'em."

You looked her in the eyes and nodded.  "You stay safe, alright?"

She rolled her eyes, but you saw a hint of a smile when she told you, "Yeah, whatever," and headed down the hall.

You watched her walk away until she turned down another hall out of sight.  When you turned to head back to the library, you found yourself only inches away from Michael.

"Who was that?" he demanded, guesting behind you.

' _How much of the conversation did he hear?  Lily would have said something if she saw someone behind me, right?_ '  "...Just some girl, what's it to you?"

"I, and the rest of the guys, have been instructed by the King to make sure your little rebellion doesn't go anywhere.  So we're gonna keep an eye on you, to make sure you don't try anything."

You crossed your arms and squinted, "Have I done something in particular to upset you?  You've been awfully rude to me the entire time I've been here."

He quirked an eyebrow, "You mean besides trying to kill my boss?"

"Yes!  You're the only one acting like this.  Everyone else is, well, I wouldn't say _kind_ to me.  But at least _decent_."

"You expect me to believe I'm the only one of the guys who has a problem with you being here?"

"Again, yes!" you half shouted, "Apparently you're the only one here who hasn't realized that King Ryan is a total ass."

"You think I haven't figured that out yet?" he shouted.  "Ass or no he's still my friend!"

"Frie- He's killed people!  Lots of people!  And he's fighting a war that's killing who know how many more!"

"I- every rose has its thorn!"  You could tell he realized how nonsensical that was and that he regretted saying it as soon as the words left his mouth.

"Killing people is a pretty big thorn, Michael!!"  You took a deep breath to calm yourself down, and crossed your arms.  "Look, I understand that you don't want to accept the fact that your friend is a terrible person, I wouldn't either, but you have to admit that a lot of people would be better off without him."

"I _know_ that," Michael insisted, "but I still don't wanna see him get killed.  I really liked the guy, before he went _totally_ mad with power."

"I understand that."  You sighed, "In any case, I don't think I'll be able to kill him..."

"Yeah, he told us about your little incident this morning."

"He told all of you?" you groaned.  "Well, there goes my intimidation factor."

"Yeah, you never really had one of those," he smirked.

"What?  Oh come on," you smiled, "I'm a hardened adventurer from far away lands, and you're telling me none of you _at all_ thought I might be a danger to you?  Not even a little bit?"

"No, you idiot," he laughed, "especially after we managed to throw you in the dungeon so easily.  You're more of an annoyance than anything else."

"I did break out of the dungeon, to be fair."

"And then you ended up engaged to the King.  You're certainly never bored, are you?"

You scratched the back of your head, "Yeah, that wasn't really on purpose, the whole engagement thing.  It just sort of... happened.  And he doesn't actually want to marry me, in any case, from what I gather."

"Figured that out, didja?" he smiled.

"Uh, well, I was told really."

"Really?  By who?"

"I'd rather not say.  Forgive me for not trusting you," you smirked.

"Fair," he nodded.  "I mean, I resent that, but fair."

Your conversation was then interrupted when an out-of-breath young man dressed in a servant's suit came up to the two of you.  "Um, excuse me..."

Michael turned to look at him with a confused expression, "Yeah?"

"Um, the King has instructed me to tell you, and the young lady here, that he wishes you to join him in the throne room.  It seems a messenger has been sent from one of the battlefronts with a progress report, and he would like his Guards present when it is read, as usual."

"Right," Michael nodded, "We'll head that way then."

Michael motioned for you to follow him, and walked quickly down the hall, with you following after him.


	20. Part 20

You couldn't help but think that you'd be far more comfortable being in a room with the King and all of his Guards at once if you were armed.  However, you hadn't had the best luck finding your way around, and so you weren't sure if you'd be able to make it back to our room and then to the throne room in a reasonable amount of time.  In any case, you were fairly certain Michael wouldn't let you leave to go arm yourself.  He might have agreed that King Ryan isn't the greatest person, but he never said he'd help you, and he certainly never said he'd stop helping Ryan.  So, you simply frowned, and submitted yourself to the idea of seeing all of them without your sword at your hip to comfort you.

The walk to the throne room was rather quiet, and though you wanted to, you couldn't think of anything to say to break the silence.  Michael might not have acted as bad as you had worried he might, but you two still weren't on what you would call "good terms."  You scratched the back of your neck slightly, and walked silently behind Michael as he led you to the throne room.

When you arrived, you entered through a door, halfway between the throne and the large doors to outside, on what would be the left side of the room if you were sat on the throne.  Ryan was sat on the throne, with Geoff and Jack standing to his right and a few steps below the throne, and Ray and Gavin to his left and a few steps below the throne.  Michael took a place next to Ray and Gavin, and not knowing what else to do, you stood next to Michael.

You took a glance around the room; the only people you could see as of yet were King Ryan; his personal Guards; and another two guards,one on each side of the doors that led outside.  You clasped your hands behind your back and tried to keep from tapping your foot.  You risked another glance at King Ryan, and he winked at you.  You did you best to keep you expression neutral, and turned away from him.

Soon, one of the servants appeared through a door opposite to where you had entered the throne room, and walked quickly and silently to take a spot at the very bottom of the stairs.  She bowed to King Ryan, and loudly declared, "King Ryan of Inverness, a messenger has been sent from the battlefront with a progress report and message from one of your esteemed Generals.  Do you wish for it to be read?"

King Ryan simply nodded and waved her away.  She bowed, and went to leave through the same door she had come through, where a man dressed in traveling clothes soon appeared from.

You rolled your eyes and the two of you stood up straight as the man in traveling clothes stood where the servant woman had stood just before.

"My King," he bowed, "I shall begin with the reading of the progress report, if it pleases you."

You couldn't help but roll your eyes.  You felt ridiculous, you were an adventurer; you rarely found any sort of ceremony or ritual meaningful, and you couldn't help but think to yourself, ' _Just get on with it and read the blasted thing.  You know he's going to say 'yes.'_ '.

The King did, in  fact, agree to have the report read first, and you rolled your eyes again.  You leaned over to Michael and whispered, "Is all this really necessary?"

He leaned toward you slightly and smirked, "It makes him feel important."

The messenger pulled a stack of papers out of his bag, and you groaned.  You really hoped he wouldn't read all of it.

You were disappointed.  You weren't sure how long you stood there, listening to the messenger drone on about tactics and maneuvers and heaps of things you didn't care about, but it was certainly longer than you would have liked.  You only tuned back in to actually listen, when the messenger finally got near the end, and read off some numbers.  Number of people dead in each skirmish, on both sides; number of people dead from illness; number of civilians killed, by accident or not;and number of people dead overall due to the war.

The numbers made your head spin and your stomach ill.  Where do you even find that many people?  And worse yet, the report ended with a pleasant, "Everything is going fine," message from whoever wrote it.

The messenger asked the King if he would like the letter from the General to be read as well, but King Ryan simply asked for it to be brought to his chambers, so he could read it privately.

You leaned toward Michael again, "How often does he get letters with the progress reports?"

"Not often," he replied quietly.

"Think it's important?" you asked.

Michael just shrugged, and stood up straight again.  You did the same, as the messenger bowed to the King once more, and King Ryan told him he was excused.

King Ryan finally stood up, and simply walked out without another word.  The other Guards all dispersed as well, just as silently, excepting Michael.  He turned to you and asked, "You still don't really know your way around do you?"

You shook your head, "This place's layout just doesn't make any sense to me."

"Yeah," he nodded, "It takes some getting used to.  Want me to take you up to your room?"

You shook your head, "It's not that late, is it?  I think I'd rather go back to the library for a while."

Michael smiled, "I could take you there, if you like."

You nodded, and thanked him, and he led you out the same door you had entered through.

The walk was quiet, though is was rather less unpleasant than the silence from when he had led you to the throne room.  He found his way to the library faster than you had thought possible, smiled, and left you to your own devices.

After browsing the shelves for some time you finally decided to simply gather a small pile of books on war strategies and leaf through them.  you were halfway through not actually reading the third book when the door to the library creaked open.

You turned to look, and saw the King.  "Ah, Michael told me I might find you here."

You tried your best to look uninterested as you asked him, "You need something?"

"Yes actually," he took a seat across from you, "You recall I received a letter with the progress report today, right?"

"Mm."

"Well, in it, one of my Generals has expressed an interest in meeting with one of my people to discuss plans and startigies for upcoming battles.  I've decided I'm going to go myself."

You looked up at him.

"And you're going to come with me."

**Author's Note:**

> I am currently working on a "spiritual sucessor" to this fic. You can keep updated by following my tumblr blog:  
> http://roosterteethbri.tumblr.com/tagged/The%20Fall%20Of%20The%20Mad%20King%20Fic


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